Clear For Take-Off: World Cup Aerialists Fly through the Sky at Deer Valley

Flying high at Deer Valley Resort. Photo: Steven Earl/U.S. Ski Teamr@usskiteam // @steveearlrr

PARK CITY, Utah-Australian woman Dannielle Scott and Swiss man Noe Roth jumped onto the podium on the final day of competition at the 2021 FIS Intermountain Healthcare Freestyle Ski World Cup at Deer Valley Resort Saturday.

The winning jump from the women was a back, double Full, Full, while the Men’s competitors needed a back, double Full, Full, Full to get it done. You can be bored by reading those descriptions or you can be wowed by watching the winning jumps here:

Dannielle Scott

Noe Roth

How to watch today:

Sun., Feb. 7, 8:00 pm (MST) on MSNBC, Intermountain Healthcare Freestyle International Dual Moguls World Cup – next-day broadcast

Sun., Feb. 7, 9:30 pm  (MST) on MSNBC, Intermountain Healthcare Freestyle International Aerials World Cup – next-day broadcast

Saturday’s competition took place under clear skies, and more importantly, those ever-desirable low winds.

In women’s competition, second and and third place finishers were both Americans: Winter Vinecki and Kalia Kuhn. Vinecki, 25 is from Michigan and attends the University of Utah. Kuhn is just 18 years old.

USA’s Justin Schoenefeld who hails from Indiana, took home second place in the Aerials with the same jump and degree of difficulty as the winner. In third place for the men was another Swiss athlete – 21-year-old Pirmin Werner, who also performed the same jump.

Christopher Lillis (USA) and Eric Loughgren (USA) landed in 7th and 9th.

Overall, the women of Team USA have the lion’s share of the leaderboard in the Aerials discipline of the World Cup standings:

2nd, Winter Vinecki

3rd, Megan Nick

4th, Ashley Caldwell, famous for her high degree of difficulty triple jumps, Caldwell is currently pursuing her Masters Degree at the University of Utah

5th, Kalia Kuhn

Men’s winner Noe said, “It feels amazing. I Love this place. I’ve podiumed three times in a row here so, yeah, I’m really, really, really excited.” Women’s winner Scott said, “To come back and just win is just- I’m blown away, it’s crazy.”

Aerials athletes practice over and over and over again in a massive, modern summer swimming pool facility at Park City’s Utah Olympic Park/U.S. Olympic Committee Training Center.

Competitors ride up an individual tow-style surface lift adjacent to the man-made jumps called the “Hurricane.” It’s named after the groundbreaking jump that, beloved by Park City fans, three-time Olympian Jaret “Speedy” Peterson used to famously perform before his untimely death in 2011. Aerialists’ specialized skis don’t lend themselves effectively to the average alpine skiing needed to ski down from the top of the Carpenter lift to the course.

The athletes competing in this sport often had sport careers that derived from other sports like diving, trampoline or gymnastics; all of which contribute to developing a sense of airborne spatial awareness.