Australia’s three best aerial skiers were all standing at the bottom of the hill with the spectators at last weekend'sWorld Cup event on the Torino 2006 Olympic site of Sauze d’Oulx.
Australia’s three best aerial skiers were all standing at the bottom of the hill with the spectators at last weekend'sWorld Cup event on the Torino 2006 Olympic site of Sauze d’Oulx.
While the rehabilitating Alisa Camplin was only there on a familiarisation visit in preparation for next year’s Games, world number two Lydia Ierodiaconou and current number four Jacqui Cooper were both ruled out of competition as a result of training crashes.
Olympic Winter Institute medical and coaching staff decided to withdraw Ierodiaconou when she was judged to be still suffering the after effects of a heavy fall she had taken the week before in China.
Although the Melbourne 23 year-old had trained earlier in the week, she had only completed two sessions on the newly-constructed Olympic site.
Cooper was also withdrawn after she crashed in the morning’s training session while attempting a double twisting triple somersault.
The three-time World Cup champion took a solid hit to the head that left her disoriented and with major swelling over her left eye.
In the absence of the team’s high profile personnel, Australian number four Lainie Cole landed her new double twisting double somersault to grab a place in the 12-woman final, then went on to post a personal best total points score of 161.62 in finishing ninth overall.
Liz Gardner missed out on qualifying for the final, finishing in 15th.
Evelyne Leu won the pre-Olympic test event, relegating World Cup leader Nina Li of China to second place. The Swiss skier landed a double twisting triple somersault in the first round to score 103.93 points, then backed up with another triple to take the gold medal on 197.20 points, 1.61 points clear of Li.
Chinese number two Xinxin Guo collected the bronze medal on 189.26 points.
Li extended her lead over Ierodiaconou on the World Cup standings, moving 200 points clear on 825 points. Guo is in third place on 429 points with Cooper still fourth on 356.
With a scheduled event of the World Cup in Davos, Switzerland, now cancelled, Ierodiaconou and Cooper will have a week and a half to recover before the next round of the season in the Czech Republic resort of Spindleruv Mlyn.
The World Cup aerials skiing final takes place in Madonna di Campiglio, Italy, the following weekend, and then a week later, the 2005 World Freestyle Championships in Ruka, Finland, will round out the season.
While the rehabilitating Alisa Camplin was only there on a familiarisation visit in preparation for next year’s Games, world number two Lydia Ierodiaconou and current number four Jacqui Cooper were both ruled out of competition as a result of training crashes.
Olympic Winter Institute medical and coaching staff decided to withdraw Ierodiaconou when she was judged to be still suffering the after effects of a heavy fall she had taken the week before in China.
Although the Melbourne 23 year-old had trained earlier in the week, she had only completed two sessions on the newly-constructed Olympic site.
Cooper was also withdrawn after she crashed in the morning’s training session while attempting a double twisting triple somersault.
The three-time World Cup champion took a solid hit to the head that left her disoriented and with major swelling over her left eye.
In the absence of the team’s high profile personnel, Australian number four Lainie Cole landed her new double twisting double somersault to grab a place in the 12-woman final, then went on to post a personal best total points score of 161.62 in finishing ninth overall.
Liz Gardner missed out on qualifying for the final, finishing in 15th.
Evelyne Leu won the pre-Olympic test event, relegating World Cup leader Nina Li of China to second place. The Swiss skier landed a double twisting triple somersault in the first round to score 103.93 points, then backed up with another triple to take the gold medal on 197.20 points, 1.61 points clear of Li.
Chinese number two Xinxin Guo collected the bronze medal on 189.26 points.
Li extended her lead over Ierodiaconou on the World Cup standings, moving 200 points clear on 825 points. Guo is in third place on 429 points with Cooper still fourth on 356.
With a scheduled event of the World Cup in Davos, Switzerland, now cancelled, Ierodiaconou and Cooper will have a week and a half to recover before the next round of the season in the Czech Republic resort of Spindleruv Mlyn.
The World Cup aerials skiing final takes place in Madonna di Campiglio, Italy, the following weekend, and then a week later, the 2005 World Freestyle Championships in Ruka, Finland, will round out the season.
