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Li stretches lead as Ierodiaconou sidelined

 

Li stretches lead as Ierodiaconou sidelined

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AOC

Chinese skier Nina Li has stolen a march on Lydia Ierodiaconou, winning her fourth gold medal of the season with the Australian sidelined after a heavy fall in training.

Chinese skier Nina Li has stolen a march on Lydia Ierodiaconou, winning her fourth gold medal of the season with the Australian sidelined after a heavy fall in training.

Ierodiaconou knocked herself out practising her new triple somersaults two days before the Changchun event, and was ruled out of competition as a precautionary measure.

In her absence, Li posted her best points score for the season, topping the 200 mark with 204.47 to defeat Swiss skier Evelyn Leu by more than five points.

Jacqui Cooper was the best of the three Flying Kangaroos in the field, scoring 173.03 points to finish in seventh place. Team-mate Liz Gardner was one spot further back on 169.17, with Lainie Cole in 15th place on a single run score of 81.42.

Cooper went to the Chinese event intending to compete her triple somersault routine, but wound back to doubles after Ierodiaconou’s crash.

Olympic Winter Institute Aerial Skiing Coach Coach Todd Ossian was confident the team had made the right decisions for the competition..

“I had to wake Lydia up when I got to her in the landing area,” he said, “so she was certainly out to it. But I was amazed that she didn’t show any post-concussion symptoms.”

“She really wanted to compete, but I wanted to play it safe and our medico was certainly against her taking part.”

“It’s just really difficult getting the speeds right over here. The snow is bizarre – it’s grey and it’s not consistent, so Jacqui also decided to go back to doubles, and wait till we are back on a hill that we’re familiar with and know is good before trying the bigger jumps.”

“I was also really happy with Liz Gardner’s effort. She did a really nice triple twisting double which is a new trick she hadn’t trained for two and a half weeks. It was great in the air, and she just landed a little heavy on her right foot and went down, but an 80 plus score after that landing was pretty good.”

Nina Li now leads the World Cup standings on 745 points, 120 clear of Ierodiaconou on 625. Xin Xin Guo of China is in third on 369 with Cooper on 356.

With 100 points on offer for first place, 80 for second and 60 for third, the Australian will find it difficult to bridge the gap in the remaining four events.

“The World Cup isn’t our focus, though Lyd would obviously like to win it,” Ossian said. “The important thing she is looking at is getting the new jumps ready for Torino.”

The next World Cup aerials event will be held on the Olympic venue of Sauze d’Oulx this coming weekend.
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