Bree Munro has jumped to a career-best sixth place in a World Cup in Lake Placid, as Australia’s more accomplished aerial skiers were all eliminated in the qualifying round.

Competing in her first World Cup for three years, Munro successfully landed two triple twisting double somersaults to score a personal best total of 176.06 points.

Olympic Winter Institute team-mate and World Cup leader Lydia Lassila was unable to stick her single twisting triple somersault in qualifying, finishing in 20th position on 68.60 points.

Jacqui Cooper, returning to action after the dramatic crash in China which broke her nose, also missed a clean landing on her triple twisting triple, back slapping and finishing on 81.00 points in 13th place, one spot outside the finals.

The fourth member of the OWI/AIS team, Liz Gardner, took a heavy fall in training as she attempted to land her new triple somersault.

She downgraded her degree of difficulty to a double twisting double somersault for the qualifying round, scoring 74.81 points from the judges for 17th place.

“This is a very big day for me,” said the 27-year-old Mt Buller skier, who has been kept out of the sport for the past three years by injury.

“I’ve never landed both of my triple twisting jumps before, so I’m very excited.”

“I wasn’t expecting to do my second triple twisting double in competition until next week because we didn’t think it was ready, but I tried one in training and landed it really well so we thought, let’s give it a go.”

Former World Cup champion Alla Tsuper of Belarus collected the gold medal with 189.98 points, with Chinese skier Mengtao Xu in second place on 186.11 points and Emily Cook of the US third on 184.70.

Despite her 20th placing, Lassila continues to lead the World Cup standings on 171 points, 19 clear of Tsuper.

Jacqui Cooper is in equal fourth place on 124 points, while Gardner is in 17th position on 58 points.

Having contested just one of the season’s three events, Munro is in 21st place on 40 points.

"I’m disappointed," Lassila said of her performance.

"I’ve made really great progress on the triples this week and they’re really coming along. I guess I set high expectations because things are going well, so today was just a pity. I landed all my training jumps, so the consistency is really coming."

"My jump was really nice - just a little too big so I didn’t gauge the landing as I should have."

"I know I’m making really good progress with triples though which is important this year and especially for next year. The other side of me, however, is competitive and wants to win now!"

"I just need to do the miles and get more triples under my belt. They are very close. That is the main goal for this year, so I am on track and moving forward."

Cooper was also didsappointed with her result after a good training lead-up.

"I jumped very well in training and everything was finally coming together for me and I thought I could win," Cooper said,

"I'm not sure why I back-slapped – maybe I was just too scared to really land (with the China thing in the back of my mind)."

"I am rusty, though. I have only done five FFF (triple twisting triple somersaults) this season - maybe only 20 triples in all. Coming back from the accident has been very tough for me."

"I just need to get a good week of training in so I can get some momentum happening. It’s time I landed some jumps and landed back on top of the podium."

The fourth World Cup of the season will be contested in Mont Gabriel, Canada, on Monday morning Australian time (January 25).

Athlete Audio
To visit the OWI Gallery and hear audio of Bree Munro following the event, please click here.