China's Nina Li moved into a tie for the overall aerials lead by winning the women's jump Friday at the a World Cup event, while American Ryan St. Onge passed teammate Joe Pack on the final jump to win the men's.
Li trailed Australia's Lydia Ierodiaconou for the aerial points lead entering the competition, but pulled into a tie for the World Cup lead after Ierodiaconou had a bumpy landing in qualifying.
PHOTO: AFP
Li won it when Manuela Mueller fell backward on her landing.
Canada's Veronika Bauer did the same jump as Li and placed second, followed by Ierodiaconou, who did her first triple flip in competition in the finals and placed third.
St. Onge, who won his first World Cup event earlier this month, completed a triple-twisting triple back flip and nailed the landing to finish with a total score of 253.05. Pack had just done the same jump and was good in the air, but slipped a little on the landing.
Pack, a Park City native and Olympic silver medalist three years ago, led after his jump with a score of 242.27 but St. Onge did it better and won by more than 10 points.
St. Onge led after qualifying and knew he had won before the final scores even came up. He threw off his helmet, then flopped back in the snow before getting up for a hug from Pack. St. Onge then vaulted the snow fence and started hugging members of the crowd.
Steve Omischl of Canada was third at 240.29.
International ski officials have opened an investigation into timing errors that marred a World Cup race earlier this week.
"I think the damage is here. It's a question of credibility," said International Ski Federation president Gian Franco Kasper said Friday.
"Timing is the basis of our competition. The moment the athletes, media, the spectators do not trust the timing, then we have a real problem."
The technical glitches occurred during Tuesday's night slalom in Schladming, Austria. The times of the two fastest skiers in the opening leg had to be adjusted when the clock stopped before they crossed the finish line.
Austrian Manfred Pranger won the race with second for countryman Benjamin Raich and third for Swede Andre Myhrer. Italian Giorigo Rocca led after the first run. His time for the run was eventually changed, though he stayed in first place.
Rocca skidded off course shortly before the finish in the second run.
The Italian ski federation has launched an official protest in a bid to have the race annulled.
World Cup race director Guenther Hujara confiscated all the timing protocols -- printouts of all the results and times from the competition.
"FIS has asked for an internal analysis of what has happened from a technical point of view in Schladming and also all other competitions which have taken place this winter," Kasper said on the eve of the world championship in Bormio.
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