SKIING: Australia’s current Olympic gold medallist Lydia Lassila made a resounding return to the elite level of aerial skiing in Changchun, China, today when she finished second in her first World Cup competition in almost three years.

However, despite her impressive return, Lassila, who became a mother for the first time in 2011, will not yet allow herself to start thinking about the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games.

The Australian Institute of Sport / Victorian Institute of Sport athlete said she would have been disappointed had she not recorded her 30th World Cup podium finish today.

“I wanted to be on the podium and that’s what I thought I could do,” Lassila said.

“It’s too early to start thinking of another Olympic medal. Obviously that is what I dream of, and that is why I’m here, but there is a lot of building to do.”

Finishing second to China’s Mengtao Xu and ahead of Nina Li, also from China, clearly signaled to the skiing world that Lassila is back with the same desire that propelled her to Olympic glory in February 2010.

Right from the start of the first World Cup aerial event of the season, Lassila made it clear that her intentions would not revolve around “easing” her way back into competition.

She finished fourth in qualifying with a full-full and then increased the degree of difficulty in the first final with a double full-full, which earned her a place in the super-final contested by the day’s best four athletes.

Competing for the first time in the new two finals format, Lassila maintained her degree of difficulty  in the final round with a full-double-full, another double somersault with three twists, but with a double twist on the second flip, earning her enough points in the minus 18 degree conditions to snare second place.

Lassila said that she was thrilled by the result but at the same time, she expects that sort of result of herself.

“I knew that if I could get to the final four, I’d have a pretty good chance of being on the podium.

“That was the first time I have competed with that format so I didn’t know what to expect other than expecting it to be a long day.

“As it turned out, the format was less of the big deal than what I thought it would be and that was surprising.

“The girl that won did triples, so there was nothing I could do about that at this stage.

“Today gives me a lot more confidence for when I start to do triples again.”

Lassila is planning to reintroduce triples when she competes at Lake Placid in the United States later this month.

“I think it is a good idea to get these doubles going again, Lassila said.

“There will be times with this format that I’ll need to do doubles so it is good to have them in my back pocket if I need them.

“The format is pretty cut throat now compared to 2010, with only four passing through to the super final.
"Whatever jump you do before the super final, you don’t get any reward for that at the end of the day.

“Now it’s that last jump that counts. That’s a little hard for me to digest at this stage but you have to jump to the new format and with strategy.”

Lassila’s second place was not the only impressive news from Changchun.

AIS scholarship holder Danielle Scott continued her impressive results from the 2011/2012 season by finishing in 6th place  while in the men’s draw David Morris, who missed all of last season, recorded an 11th place, his best World Cup result since 2010.

Results – Women’s World Cup aerial skiing, Changchun, China
1. Mengtao Xu (CHN) 109.06, 2. Lydia Lassila (AUS) 97.29, 3. Nina Li (CHN) 96.93, 4. Fanyu Kong (CHN) 89.14, 5. Emily Cook (USA) 92.70, 6. Danielle Scott (AUS) 87.88, 14. Samantha Wells (AUS) 74.65, Renee McElduff (AUS) 67.57, 18. Laura Peel (AUS) 63.

Women’s aerial skiing World Cup Standings
1. Mengtao Xu (CHN) 100, 2. Lydia Lassila (AUS) 80, 3. Nina Li (CHN) 60, 4. Fanyu Kong (CHN) 50, 5. Emily Cook (USA) 45, 6. Danielle Scott (AUS) 40, 14. Samantha Wells (AUS) 18, Renee McElduff (AUS) 14, 18. Laura Peel (AUS) 13.

Results – Men’s World Cup aerial skiing, Changchun, China
1. Zongyang Jia (CHN) 128.51, 2. Guangpu Qi (CHN) 128.05, 3. Olivier Rochon (CAN) 84.75, 4. Zhongqing Liu (CHN) 75.56, 5. Dylan Ferguson (USA) 122.62, 6. Thomas Lambert (SUI) 119.91, 11. David Morris (AUS) 91.59.

Men’s aerial skiing World Cup Standings
1. Zongyang Jia (CHN) 100, 2. Guangpu Qi (CHN) 80, 3. Olivier Rochon (CAN) 60, 4. Zhongqing Liu (CHN) 50, 5. Dylan Ferguson (USA) 45, 6. Thomas Lambert (SUI) 40, 11. David Morris (AUS) 24.

Olympic Winter Institute