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Third place finish for Rochon in China

Entire freestyle aerial team makes finals in Changchun
rochon
ROCHON ROCKS IT Canadian aerial skier Olivier Rochon placed third at the World Cup Freestyle competition this weekend in China. Photo submitted

The entire Canadian freestyle team posted top-12 finishes at the World Cup aerial competition this weekend in Changchun, China.

In cold conditions, Olivier Rochon was the top Canadian. He placed third behind a pair of Chinese athletes who put down high-scoring quadruple jumps in the finals. Zongyang Jia was first in the men’s competition and the second place finisher was Guangpu Qi.

Rochon was the 2012 Crystal Globe winner. The aerialist from Quebec used a triple twisting triple back flip to compete in the super final round of four. He said after the event in China that the jump wasn’t challenging enough to beat the two skiers from China.

“This competition was really an extension of our (pre-season) training camp because we didn’t really get to finish the camp because of bad weather, so I didn’t have a chance to get up to my full (degree of difficulty). I did make a small mistake on my last jump, but I knew that even if I hadn’t it couldn’t have scored high enough to give me a win, so I’m really happy with the result, it’s the best I could have hoped for,” said Rochon.

Travis Gerrits, from Milton, Ont. placed 9th while Jean-Christophe André from Montreal wrapped the competition up in tenth place.

Sabrina Guerin from Laval, Que. made it to the finals in her return to competition after a torn Achilles tendon took her out of action last season. She finished in 12th place.

Mengtao Xu of China won the women’s event and Olympic champion Lydia Lassila of Australia followed in second while China’s Nina Li rounded out the podium.

Look for a wrap up of weekend sports results on Thursday in print and online at www.piquenewsmagazine.com.