Lydia Lassila has retained her lead in the battle for the aerial skiing World Cup title, despite being eliminated in the qualifying round of the season’s fifth event in Deer Valley, Utah.

The 27-year Mt Buller skier missed the landing on her new double twisting triple somersault, exiting the competition with 59.85 points from the judges and 16th place overall.

Dual world champion Nina Li of China posted a two round total of 194.67 points to take her first victory of the season ahead of team-mate Xinxin Guo on 191.54 points.

Emily Cook of the USA won the bronze on 178.21 points.

Jacqui Cooper was the best of the Australians on the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic jump site, finishing in eighth place with a total of 151.44 points after missing the landing on both her qualifying and finals jumps.

OWI team-mate Bree Munro was in 17th place on 56.40 points while Denita Mudge, making her World Cup debut, finished in 21st position on 47.97 points.

With two events of the season to come following the cancellation of the Kiev World Cup, Lassila has a handy but not unbeatable lead in the battle for the crystal globe. She sits on 286 points, 45 points clear of Li on 241.

Li’s team-mate Shanshan Zhao is in third position on 203 points.

And in a new chapter for Australian aerial skiing, Melbourne 24-year-old David Morris made his debut in the men’s Deer Valley event, eleven years to the day since the last Australian man competed on World Cup.

That skier, Jono Sweet, bowed out of the sport a week later at the 1998 Nagano Olympic Games, but Morris gives every indication that he has a strong future ahead of him, despite missing his qualifying landing in his debut performance.

The next round will be held on the 2010 Vancouver Olympic site of Cypress Mountain on Saturday afternoon, Australian time.