Zhangjiakou: It started so promisingly, but ended on the backsides of Laura Peel and Danielle Scott, who could not convert their stunning early aerial form into a medal in Beijing.
Aerials is a cruel sport. Two great runs can be wiped away with a single failure. That’s what happened to Peel on Monday night, who left a freezing mountainside cold and shattered after four years of perseverance in a sport that often ends in ligaments being torn and knees being dislocated.
Australian skiers Laura Peel and Danielle Scott.Credit:Getty Images
Peel scored 104.54 in her first run down the mountain in Zhangjiakou, putting her in a dominant position as day turned to night. Temperatures dropped to -24 degrees as Peel took her position at the top of the ramp in first place, the last of a dozen competitors flying towards the lights.
But a disappointing second jump saw Peel fly too far down the ramp, bungling her landing and putting her under pressure for the third attempt.
The 32-year-old used the experience of each of her previous two Olympics to know what to pull out when it mattered. Charging down the ramp at 65 kilometres an hour and flying 18 metres into the air, Peel landed a back triple full in her third jump, putting her into the final with 100.2 points.
Scott, Peel’s teammate, who came back from two ACL injuries to take her spot in Beijing, also hit the snow hard in her second jump – slapping her back as she attempted a triple somersault and scoring 71.23 for her efforts. A third attempt at a back full tuck was not enough to get her through to a top six.
Danielle Scott competes during the women’s aerials finals at the 2022 Winter Olympics.Credit:AP
The former gymnast who had never skied before being scouted by Australian aerials great Jacqui Cooper more than a decade ago was left devastated – convinced she had what it took to get on the podium after qualifying for the final in fourth.
“Man it’s tricky out here,” Scott said as she pulled up at the bottom of the slope and the wind forced coaches to delay sending their athletes down the ramp.
In the end it was too tricky for both of them. Peel did not land her final jump. A triple back full. The 78.56 was enough to get her into fifth but not onto the podium. Scott finished in 10th.
“I know I can jump a lot better than I did tonight,” said Peel, a two-time aerial world champion. “I wish I would have done that.
“I don’t really think I have any excuses. You know, it was a big jump. I needed to stretch a little bit earlier. I waited until the last lip and that was a little bit too late. And yeah, unfortunately, I couldn’t put my feet down”.
Laura Peel falls during the women’s aerials finals at the 2022 Winter Olympics.Credit:AP
The Australians faced a constant threat from the US’ Ashley Caldwell and China’s Xu Mengtao and Kong Fanyu in the qualifiers. Xu and Kong, the first and second ranked aerialists in the world, were skiing on their home turf in blustery conditions in the mountains 250 kilometres outside Beijing. They finished the first round qualifying in third and ninth place, but moved into second and third behind Caldwell ahead of the final run.
Aerial skiing is scored off jumps divided by takeoff, tricks and landing, with a degree of difficulty applied to the total score. The winner is based on the highest single score after three elimination rounds, encouraging athletes to throw everything at each attempt.
In the end it was Xu who did. The Chinese veteran will now become a hero in China after becoming the only skier to land the back-full-full-fulll – three revolutions end over end backwards – on Monday. Peel and Kong tried and failed. Xu did it to roars from the assembled crowd who had cheered through the frigid conditions to witness an iconic national moment.
China’s Xu Mengtao reacts during the women’s aerials finals at the 2022 Winter Olympics.Credit:AP
Xu roared right back at them when she came to the bottom of the slope, pointing at the sky and letting out a scream that filled the valley, unable to contain her joy after four Olympic attempts.
Peel had wanted to follow in the footsteps of Australian gold medallists Alisa Camplin and Lydia Lassila in what has become Australia’s strongest event at the Winter Games. At 32, she may not get that chance again,
“I’m very proud of everything that I’ve done leading into now,” Peel said last week after being announced as the Australian flag bearer for her third Games.
“I’ve still got a couple World Cups left for the season,” she said on Monday. “So hoping to do those and then yeah, time will tell.”
The result means the Australian team’s hopes of bringing home five medals from the Winter Games have been dashed with few genuine medal chances left in the last five days of competition. Four medals remain an unprecedented haul for a country that has historically struggled to win more than two.
Australia’s previous best performance was three medals at the 2018 Games in PyeongChang. With a week left in the Games, Australia is 16th out of 91 countries on the Beijing medal tally, ahead of winter nations Finland and Britain.
“If we win one medal that’s good. Two medals, very good. Three medals, very, very good,” Australian Chef de Mission Geoff Lipshut said last week. “Four medals, we’ve never won four medals, so that would be fantastic.”
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