Jacqui Cooper has jumped to a world record points score, and also equalled the all-time career record of aerial skiing victories with a near flawless performance in Mont Gabriel.

The three time World Cup champion, who turned 34 two days ago, also climbed to the number one world ranking in a weather-shortened one jump competition in the Canadian resort.

Cooper scored 116.64 points, nearly two points higher than the then record 114.81 she produced two weeks ago in the US world championship trials.

The result lifted her career victory tally to 17, matching the gold medal totals of former team-mate Kirstie Marshall and Canadian skier Marie-Claud Asselin.

Faced with a disintegrating jump site caused by the unseasonably warm weather in north-east Canada, the competition was abbreviated to a one jump qualification and one jump final.

Cooper qualified in second place behind Chinese skier Cheng Shuang, with Australian team-mate Liz Gardner sneaking into the ten-woman final in ninth place.

In the final, the Australian veteran stepped up to her highest degree of difficulty, scoring 20.10 points out of a possible 21 for air and form, and 2.9 out of a possible 3 from each of the landing judges.

Swiss skier Manuella Mueller took the silver medal on 86.71 points, with Canadian Veronika Bauer in third place on 82.82 points.

Cooper's OWI team-mate Liz Gardner finished in fourth place on 82.05 points.

"I'm happy about the jump most of all," Cooper said. "It's far and away the best I have ever done. The 17 wins is great, but that's really just a product of how I'm jumping."

"Winning next week to say I've got the record to myself is low on my list of priorities. I'm after 25 wins, or 26 and I've got other more important goals. Just doing such a good jump today is more important to me at the moment."

"When they put the yellow bib on me today it was really nice. It felt like it was only yesterday that I was wearing it, even though five years have gone by since the last time, and I'm a completely different person - I've rebuilt myself physically, mentally and technically."

"I'm really enjoying this phase of my career."

"My triple twisting triple is the jump I find the easiest. I really love doing it, and I feel comfortable with it, and now I am starting to perform it on snow like I do on the water ramp."

After the first three events of the season, Cooper leads the World Cup standings on 225 points, with Chinese skier Nina Li on 200 points and Mueller on 133. After her first outing for the season, Gardner is back in 16th place on 50 points.

Olympic Winter Institute Head Coach Jeremy Batchelor said Cooper's result was particularly good, coming as it did on the back of limited training of her most difficult jump, a triple twisting triple somersault.

"Jacqui has only jumped two of the triples in training this week, and hasn't done many of them all season, so to score just five points short of a perfect score is very impressive."

Cooper and Gardner will compete in the Deer Valley World Cup next weekend, along with the OWI moguls team headed by Dale Begg-Smith.

Olympic Winter Institute