Swiss wins gold in freestyle aerials

Evelyne Leu has much to celebrate Keystone

Evelyne Leu has won gold in the women's freestyle skiing aerials at the Winter Olympic Games in Turin, Italy.

The Swiss won the competition on Wednesday evening at Sauze d’Oulx with two jumps totalling 202.55 points. Silver went to China and bronze to Australia.

With her gold, Leu continues Switzerland’s successful day at the Games. Earlier, brothers Philipp and Simon Schoch won gold and silver in the men’s parallel giant slalom snowboarding event.

This brings the country’s medal total to 11, including four golds.

Leu, whose last appearance at the Olympics ended in disappointment, outclassed her opponents with the second jump, a highly difficult triple backflip with three twists. Before that she had been placed fifth.

“I am simply happy that I landed this jump,” said the 29 year old.

For his part, trainer Michel Roth said he was pleased the gamble had paid off, as Leu had initially been reluctant to try the move in the final.

Runners-up

Her effort left World Champion and World Cup leader Nina Li of China in second, while defending Olympic champion Alisa Camplin of Australia came in third.

The other Swiss competitor, Manuela Müller, came seventh.

Leu, who lives near Basel, already has a long list of World Cup accomplishments to her name, including a first place in Lake Placid, and a first at Mont Gabriel in Canada.

She was also runner-up in the World Championships in 2005 and is currently second in the World Cup rankings.

Wednesday’s final was delayed 30 minutes because of fog. Visibility continued to be a problem for skiers and the crowd, with competition halted twice temporarily.

swissinfo with agencies

Key facts

Ladies’ aerials results:
1. Evelyne Leu (Switzerland)
2. Nina Li (China)
3. Alisa Camplin (Australia)