Kushnir produced one of history’s highest-ever scores of 264.05, leaving Qi a distant second in 255.87, with Dashinski notching 252.69.
With only one more aerials competition to go before naming the 2010 Olympic Team, young Dylan Ferguson of Amesbury, Mass., notched his best World Cup finish to lead the U.S. Ski Team fliers in sixth. Ferguson felt closer to Vancouver as he pulled in a solid result.
"This is my best result so far. It feels really good right now… really good," Ferguson said. "I'm really getting excited going into the Games. I'm getting some results so hopefully this will do it."
The lanky athlete threw a double full, full, full, which is a quad twisting triple back flip, landing him in his place. As the crowd cheered Ferguson on, he said he was happy to have the competition in an exciting venue like Deer Valley.
"They fans are awesome they get us all excited," Ferguson said. "Utah is awesome, we have the Utah Olympic Park here and it plays a big role in our training and having a World Cup in Deer Valley helps us out a lot."
Ferguson was followed for the U.S. but Jeret "Speedy" Peterson, who attempted his famous "Hurricane" but missed the solid landing due to problems with his skis.
"I did the Hurricane. I felt great and I nailed my takeoff, saw everything on my landing and I have no clue why I fell. Maybe I need to get a new binding sponsor," Peterson said. "I feel really confident. Everything went exactly how we had planned, other than my skis falling off. I'm happy with the way things have gone and you know my mental game is where I want it to be, my focus and everything that I need leading into Vancouver."
Canadian aerialists Kyle Nissen and Warren Shouldice, both of Calgary, Alberta, took a big step closer to qualifying for the 2010 Olympics by placing fifth and eighth, respectively. Nissen took a hard fall in training that left him with a sore neck and back, but received physiotherapy between the qualifying round and the final. His fifth leaves him among the top 18 ranked positions among freestyle skiers vying for Canadian Olympic freestyle berths.
Having finished fifth, and top Canadian man, at the 2006 Olympics, the 30-year-old Nissen definitely wants to return to the Olympic stage.
“Today was just a good relief for me,” Nissen said of the 2009-10 World Cup season. “It’s been a bit of a tough go, especially with the heat of the pressure to qualify for the Olympics. I’ve been jumping pretty well in training, but the contests haven’t been rolling for me.”
Another similar placing next week in Lake Placid would virtually guarantee him an Olympic berth.
Shouldice is also looking good in the rankings for an Olympic team berth, after placing sixth last week in Calgary and eighth Friday night with a score of 237.30. He said, “I had a little trouble by stepping out on my landing on my second jump, but otherwise I’m really happy with my performance here. I jumped well and I’m definitely going in the right direction.”
In the women's field, the Chinese contingent dominated, taking the second and third podium spots along with fourth and fifth places as well, while Australia's Lydia Lassila won by carrying a substantial lead into the final, after winning the qualifying round with a huge score of 113.56. She led Nina Li of China by 13 points en route to an eventual world-record, two-jump score of 220.91.
Lacy Schnoor of Draper, Utah, who clinched her Olympic Team spot during Olympic Trials led for U.S. women in ninth. According to the aerialist, a problem spotting her landing had a huge factor in where she ended up Friday.
"You know I just didn’t get a good look at the landing and I couldn't tell exactly where I was in the air, so I just pulled my feet in a little too much," Schnoor said. "I almost had it, but these are harder tricks for me so it's great for me to come out here and practice competing them so by the time I get to Vancouver I got it down."
While she has perfecting her jumps at the top of her things to do list, Schnoor is also still reeling from landing her Olympic spot and planning on making a splash in Vancouver.
"I'm really excited about going to the Games but I want to go out there and land both my jumps both days and if I do that I'll be psyched."
In her second World Cup, Ashley Caldwell of Lake Placid, N.Y., was happy to compete in Deer Valley where the crowd was a huge boost to her.
"It's exciting everyone said you feel like a rockstar and it's totally true," Caldwell said.
With one event remaining Olympic selection is wide open for the men's and women's aerials field. They hit the jumps in Lake Placid this Friday.
OFFICIAL RESULTS
2010 Visa Freestyle International
Park City, UT - Jan. 15, 2010
Aerials
Men
1. Anton Kushnir, Belarus, 264.05
2. Guangpu Qi, China, 255.87
3. Dmitri Dashinski, Belarus, 252.69
4. Renato Ulrich, Switzerland, 247.43
5. Kyle Nissen, Canada, 246.74
Women
1. Lydia Lassila, Australia, 220.91
2. Mengtao Xu, China, 207.00
3. Nina Li, China, 204.84
4. Xinxin Guo, China, 204.00
5. Shuang Chang, China, 186.46
