Welcome Back to Lake Placid; Elliott Sixth at the iFIT Freestyle Ski World Cup
The event that aerials athletes have waited for over the past six years came to fruition on Saturday night, as the FIS Freestyle World Cup returned to Lake Placid for the first time since 2019. The years spent waiting were not for nothing, as the crowd, atmosphere, and competition at the iFIT Freestyle Ski World Cup were worth waiting for.
The day began with women’s qualifications, and competitors battled inconsistent winds and overcast weather. Many women changed their jumps throughout the first round and adjusted their start positions at the last minute, with mixed success. Despite these uncontrolables, Karenna Elliott led the way for the U.S. women, qualifying in third, along with Kyra Dossa in seventh.
Dani Loeb narrowly missed out on finals, finishing 13th overall, followed by Winter Vinecki in 14th, Kaila Kuhn in 15th, Amelia Glogowski in 18th, Tasia Tanner in 23rd and Cate McEneany in 27th.
The snow began to fall as the men started their training jumps before qualifying. The wind and snow continued to have an impact; however, the leading U.S. men remained unphased. Justin Schoenefeld took the top U.S. spot and tied with Li Xinpeng from China with the best score in qualification. Quinn Dehlinger was right behind, qualifying third, followed by Chris Lillis in ninth.
Ian Schoenwald had a solid performance but missed out on finals, finishing 17th, followed by Ashton Salwan in 18th, Derek Krueger in 20th. Park City Ski & Snowboard’s Brady Flynn made his World Cup debut at only 16 years old, finishing the day 31st.
The snow continued to fall for the remainder of the evening as the crowd started to pour into the Olympic Jumping Complex. The women’s and men’s finals were cutthroat, as the competitors started to get more comfortable with the conditions and increased the difficulty. Elliott was the lone U.S. athlete to advance to super finals between men and women.
In super finals, Elliott attempted a back full double full, with the highest difficulty score from the women. Her jump was beautifully executed in the air but, unfortunately, slightly overrotated, forcing her to lean back on her landing, putting her in sixth place.
“The crowd was awesome out here. A hometown crowd is incredible so I had to put down a big jump that’s the highest degree of difficulty that I have, so I just really had to go for it,” said Elliott. “Unfortunately, it didn’t work out for me tonight but we’ll try again!"
Dossa popped into the top 10, finishing ninth. On the men's side, Dehlinger was the top man in seventh. Lillis was ninth and Schoenefeld 10th.
Tomorrow is set to be another exciting day, as the mixed aerials team event is coming to home snow for the first time. Tune in at 7:00 p.m. ET on Outside TV to watch live from Lake Placid.
