Olivier Rochon, known in the game as Ollywood, nails a landing late Friday night during the men's aerial final at Park City. It was his 3rd career visit to the podium. (Jim Urquhart/Associated Press)
Olivier (Ollywood) Rochon earned his third career World Cup podium on Friday with a bronze finish in freestyle aerials at Park City, Utah.
The Gatineau, Que., skiier finished with a score of 111.78 behind American Dylan Ferguson (118.86). China's Zongyang Jia took gold with a score of 128.96.
It was a long night for Rochon, as the final four athletes had to make their way through four rounds in the new FIS format. A preliminary qualification round was cut to a semifinal of 12 athletes, then a final round of eight before a super final with the top four jumpers.
Athletes were not permitted to repeat jumps in any of the post-qualification rounds.
Equipment malfuctions almost kept Rochon from getting to the final four.
"On my qualification jump landing I caught an edge and lost a ski, but managed to ski out and ended up qualifying sixth," said Rochon.
"Then in the round of 12, my buckle broke when I was doing up my boots just before my jump, it was my most important buckle that keeps my foot in place. So, I had trouble on my landing of that jump. I was thinking I was going home, but I managed to sneak through to the round of eight when two guys who went after me crashed."
His coaches were able to quickly repair his buckle before the next round.
"I felt like a racing car with new tires," said Rochon.
Rochon's bronze keeps him atop the World Cup aerials circuit standings with 326 points. Jia is second at 256 points.
On the women's side, China swept the podium with Mengtao Xu, Shuang Cheng and Fanyu Chen landing in gold, silver and bronze, respectively.
Canada did not have any women in the competition.
