Jacqui Cooper has bounced back from a training crash to finish one spot off the podium in the second of two World Cups in Deer Valley, Utah.
Jacqui Cooper has bounced back from a training crash to finish one spot off the podium in the second of two World Cups in Deer Valley, Utah.
A day after establishing a new world record points score, Cooper missed the landing on her triple twisting triple somersault in the qualifying round, scoring just 81.81 points from the judges.
She finished the opening round of jumps in sixth place, more than 18 points adrift of leading qualifier, Torino Olympic champion Evelyne Leu of Switzerland.
Despite a bone jarring crash in training, the 34-year-old Olympic Winter Institute skier fought back in the final, smoothly putting down her second triple somersault for 101.65 points and a total of 183.46 points.
Leu went on to take the gold medal on 197.94 points, with Chinese skier Nina Li in second place on 188.93 points and her compatriot Xinxin Guo in third place.
Australia's other competitor in the field, Liz Gardner, finished well down in 15th place on 65.83 points after missing the landing on her double twisting double somersault.
Although Cooper failed to make the podium, the result was enough to keep her on top of the World Cup standings, with two events still to come.
She leads title race on 375 points, 15 points clear of 2005 World Cup champion Nina Li, with Leu another 102 points further back, and seemingly out of contention.
"I think that was one of the hardest days I've ever had," Cooper said.
"The conditions were changing all the time, with the wind coming in and out and the sun slowing things down, even though it was around minus 25 degrees."
"So we had a lot of trouble getting the speed on the in-run right, and I didn't land anything in training."
"I backslapped my qualification jump, and then in training before the final I landed flat on my back on the last jump of the session."
"It was one of the biggest hits I've ever had - the skis didn't even touch the ground and my head hit really hard, but luckily there was a bit of a delay before the final started and I was able to collect myself a bit."
"So to get 100 plus in the final was probably a better performance than yesterday (when she set the world record score) given how beaten up I was."
"It's been a really tough couple of weeks, and we've had three competitions in the past six days, and I think I'm just very tired, so it will be good to have a break for a while."
With the World Freestyle Skiing Championships postponed until early March, the next event on the calendar is a World Cup in the Czech resort of Spindleruv Mlyn on February 4.
Dale Begg-Smith leads the Olympic Winter Institute team in a dual moguls event in Deer Valley on Monday morning, Australian Eastern Summer time.
A day after establishing a new world record points score, Cooper missed the landing on her triple twisting triple somersault in the qualifying round, scoring just 81.81 points from the judges.
She finished the opening round of jumps in sixth place, more than 18 points adrift of leading qualifier, Torino Olympic champion Evelyne Leu of Switzerland.
Despite a bone jarring crash in training, the 34-year-old Olympic Winter Institute skier fought back in the final, smoothly putting down her second triple somersault for 101.65 points and a total of 183.46 points.
Leu went on to take the gold medal on 197.94 points, with Chinese skier Nina Li in second place on 188.93 points and her compatriot Xinxin Guo in third place.
Australia's other competitor in the field, Liz Gardner, finished well down in 15th place on 65.83 points after missing the landing on her double twisting double somersault.
Although Cooper failed to make the podium, the result was enough to keep her on top of the World Cup standings, with two events still to come.
She leads title race on 375 points, 15 points clear of 2005 World Cup champion Nina Li, with Leu another 102 points further back, and seemingly out of contention.
"I think that was one of the hardest days I've ever had," Cooper said.
"The conditions were changing all the time, with the wind coming in and out and the sun slowing things down, even though it was around minus 25 degrees."
"So we had a lot of trouble getting the speed on the in-run right, and I didn't land anything in training."
"I backslapped my qualification jump, and then in training before the final I landed flat on my back on the last jump of the session."
"It was one of the biggest hits I've ever had - the skis didn't even touch the ground and my head hit really hard, but luckily there was a bit of a delay before the final started and I was able to collect myself a bit."
"So to get 100 plus in the final was probably a better performance than yesterday (when she set the world record score) given how beaten up I was."
"It's been a really tough couple of weeks, and we've had three competitions in the past six days, and I think I'm just very tired, so it will be good to have a break for a while."
With the World Freestyle Skiing Championships postponed until early March, the next event on the calendar is a World Cup in the Czech resort of Spindleruv Mlyn on February 4.
Dale Begg-Smith leads the Olympic Winter Institute team in a dual moguls event in Deer Valley on Monday morning, Australian Eastern Summer time.
