By Alvise Armellini
LIVIGNO, Italy, Feb 18 (Reuters) – Olympic veteran Xu Mengtao of China retained her title in the women’s freestyle skiing aerials at the Milano Cortina Winter Games on Wednesday, adding another trophy to a stellar career.
Danielle Scott of Australia took the silver, while the bronze went to Xu’s compatriot Shao Qi.
Xu, 35, is a five-times Olympian with 35 World Cup victories, a record for aerials, and leads World Cup rankings. As well as gold at Beijing 2022, she won silver in mixed team aerials at those Games, and aerials silver at Sochi 2014.
“I have been practicing sports for 31 years … I have always been confident, optimistic, and with this fighting spirit. My coach and my team all know that Mengtao usually thinks that being number two is not a good performance,” she said.
The top-two finish from Xu and Scott, who is also 35, was remarkable in a discipline that normally favours younger athletes.
“Well, age is only a number, and Mengtao and I, we’re both 35, so it doesn’t matter,” the Australian said.
TEARS AND LOVE FOR PARENTS
In the contest at the alpine resort of Livigno, Xu towered over her rivals, with a 112.90 score on her last jump, compared to 102.17 for Scott and 101.90 for Shao.
The Chinese athlete, who held up her national flag after the result was declared, broke down in tears several times, including during the podium ceremony and as she dedicated her win to her parents.
“In the preparation for the Olympics in the past four years, we’ve barely seen each other because the training has been busy and I couldn’t often be there for them or take care of them. I feel grateful for their support and understanding,” Xu said.
‘ICING ON THE CAKE’
Scott had said before the final she was gunning for gold, but was nevertheless over the moon for her silver, her first podium in four Olympics.
“It’s honestly finally the icing on the cake,” she said. “I knew I had it in me, and to finally put everything down today that I needed to and walk away with a silver medal is really special.”
Shao, 24, was at her second Games, taking her first medal.
“Honestly right now it feels a bit like a dream. I didn’t expect that I could execute this well and also congratulations to Team China for adding a gold and a bronze!” she said.
GRAVITY-DEFYING DISCIPLINE
Aerials is a gravity-defying discipline that has been part of the Winter Games since 1994.
Athletes jump off a near vertical ramp, launching themselves in the air and performing complex aerobatics before landing on a steep slope, reaching speeds of up to more than 60 kilometres per hour.
They are judged on height, distance, style, degree of difficulty and landing, with a maximum score of 150.
(Reporting by Alvise Armellini, additional reporting by Irene Wang, Editing by Ken Ferris and Christian Radnedge)
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