Mokhnatska and Lillis on top in Almaty’s aerials World Cup
Feb 28, 2020·Freestyle
The penultimate competition of the 2019/20 FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup season took place on Friday in Almaty, with Ukraine’s Nadiya Mokhnatska taking her career’s first victory in women’s event, while USA’s Christopher Lillis reached for the top spot in men’s competition.
Just a week away from the successful event in Minsk, the aerials World Cup tour was back in action on Friday with the brand new venue at Almaty’s Oi Qaragai Lesnaya Skazka Mountain Resort put to test by the world’s best aerials skiers. And there is no doubt that the new Kazakh venue has passed this test with the highest grade, after a spectacular aerial showdown of double and triple flips went down in style.
In the women’s competition it was Nadiya Mokhnatska, who came with a surprise victory on Friday, taking her very first top spot on the World Cup podium. The 24-year-old aerial skier was left speechless, after Australia’s Laura Peel failed to land her jump in the big final, leaving Mokhnatska to reach for the best result of her career.
In the big final Mokhnatska perfectly landed her lay-full, and while it wasn’t the most difficult jump in the women’s competition, Mokhnatska’s execution boosted her score up to 73.66 points and at the end of the day it was just enough to put her on top of the podium.
The second place on the day went to USA’s Megan Nick, who received a score of 73.08 points, while also performing a lay-full in the big final. It was a second top-3 finish for the US athlete in 2019/20, after Nick came with a runner-up position in from of the home crowd in Deer Valley.
Zhanbota Aldabergenova of Kazakhstan pleased the local fans in Oi Qaragai by rounding out the women’s podium in third place with 71.20 points for her double full-full. On Friday Aldabergenova reached for her first World Cup podium since 2016, when she finished the competition in Moscow in second place.
Finishing just outside of the podium in fourth place Australia’s Laura Peel moved atop the World Cup ranking with 369 points. China’s Xu Mengtao, who didn’t compete in Kazakhstan on Friday, dropped to the second place with 325 points and only one more competition left in the 2019/20 season.
Over on the men’s side of the event it was USA’s Christopher Lillis, who stepped things up after his third place in Minsk last week, as the 21-year-old athlete wrapped up the day with 121.27 points and the first place for his double full-full-full on Friday afternoon. It was career’s second World Cup victory for the US aerial skier, coming four years after his first triumph on the circuit back in 2016 in Minsk.
Switzerland’s Pirmin Werner came behind Lillis in second place for his career’s first World Cup podium. In the big final Werner also landed a double full-full-full, but he wasn’t as clean in the air as the US athlete, and he finished the competition with a final score of 117.65 points.
Pavel Dik of Belarus completed the men’s podium in third place, for his second podium in 2019/20. In the big final Dik received a score of 111.37 points for his full-full-full.
In the World Cup ranking Switzerland’s Noe Roth is back in the yellow bib following his eight place finish on Friday. After six events this season Roth now has 286 points, with Russia’s Maxim Burov sitting in second place with 273 points, and Pirimin Werner now jumping into third place with 260 points.
The FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup action from Almaty continues on Sunday, with the dual moguls event set to go down at 13:30 local time at Shymbulak Mountain Resort. The final competitions of the 2019/20 aerials World Cup season are scheduled to take place next Sunday, February 8 in Krasnoyarsk (RUS).
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