Omischl breaks Quebec curse
Steve’s first Eastern Canadian World Cup podium is Gold!

Sainte-Adele, Quebec, January 27, 2008 – Aerialist Steve Omischl of Kelowna, B.C., continues to ride a high wave on the World Cup freestyle ski scene.

Despite a terrible week of training, the North Bay, Ont., native posted a near-perfect score in the qualifying round en route to the 15th World Cup win of his career.

Steve Omischl

Victory in the Canada Post Freestyle Grand Prix men’s aerials final Sunday also represented his 32nd World Cup podium performance as he continues to perform in the absence of injured world-class teammates Kyle Nissen, Cord Spero and Ryan Blais.

“It feels weird not having many teammates around, but I’m close with my coaches and my team-mates who are here,” said Omischl after his third win in four World Cup starts this season.

However, he was somewhat surprised with the win. “I had atrocious, atrocious training,” said the 29-year-old. “I’ve never been more nervous. I felt better at the Olympics.”

After terrible training Friday, Omischl escaped to Montreal to shop and relax, with coach Daniel Murphy, and try to forget about his terrible take-offs.

“We were trying to convince myself that I’ve had bad days training and still come out and performed well.”

And he did just that.

Omischl took the first-round lead with a nearly perfect score of 130.53 that featured a pair of perfect landing marks, but Andreas Isoz of Switzerland was a strong second at 127.88.

Omischl followed with another strong jump in the second round to win with a total score of 249.72. Isoz had a disastrous second jump to finish ninth, while the silver medal went to Anton Kushnir of Belarus in 243.72. Olympic medallist Dmitri Dashinski of Belarus was third in 243.58.

Jonathan Vellner of Red Deer, Alta., surprised national development aerials coach and former world-class aerialist Nicolas Fontaine by placing 13th and just missing the cut to the 12-skier final.

Vellner posted his best-ever, single-jump score of 95.70, as his national development squad team-mate, Sean Butler of Niagara Falls, Ont., scored 93.41 for 15th. World Cup squad member Warren Shouldice of Calgary, 91.15, was 16th, while national development squad members Jean-Christophe André of Montreal and Olivier Rochon of Gatineau, Que., were 18th and 19th respectively.

Alla Tsuper of Belarus parlayed a huge first-round jump of 107.92 points into victory in the historic women’s aerials final.

Three women broke the prestigious 200-point barrier in the same final for the first time as Tsuper, 28, won with a score of 201.02.

Nina Li of China was second in 200.57 and Lydia Lassila of Australia third 200.21, while World Cup overall aerials leader Jacqui Cooper of Australia finished sixth.

Amber Peterson of Thunder Bay, Ont., was pleased with her 11th-place showing. “I’m very happy with my performance,” said Peterson. “I’m not on the podium, but I had a goal and I reached it.”

Having never broken 170 points for a two-jump score, she surpassed her goal of 165. Peterson, 25, scored 168.30 with the help of solid landings on each jump.

Veronika Bauer of Toronto placed 13th to just miss the cut to the 12-skier final. Members of the national development squad members Nicole Mulder of East St. Paul, Man., and Sabrina Guérin, Laval, Que., were 17th and 19th respectively. Olympian Deidra Dionne, of Red Deer, Alberta, who has just returned after two years off the World Cup circuit, was 20th.

posted January 27, 2008