Kushnir and Han crash out as Jia leads aerials qualifying

From Sportsbeat Staff, in Vancouver

CHINA'S Zongyang Jia set the pace in freestyle skiing aerials qualification as World Cup champion Anton Kushnir of Belarus and defending champion Xiaopeng Han crashed to shock exits at Cypress Mountain.

ICARUS CALLING: World Cup champion Anton Kushnir crashes out of the Olympic aerials qualifying after failing to land his second jump (Getty Images)

Jia, just 18, amassed a total of 242.52 points for his two jumps to lead the qualification round, ahead of world champion Ryan St Onge of the USA, who collected 240.67.

St Onge has been in below-par form this season and has only managed a best-finish of 13th in the five World Cups to date, but blew off the cobwebs in Vancouver and remains in the hunt to add Olympic gold to his world title.

Jia meanwhile, has impressed on what is just his second season on the World Cup circuit, collecting victories in Changchun and Calgary and brought his form to Cypress Mountain, earning 121.72 for his second jump.

But Kushnir, who has five World Cup victories to his name this season and has finished on the podium in all eight of the events, has made an early exit. He amassed  just 213.90 points after a poor landing earned just 88.01 and ended up in 12th place.

He is joined by China's Han, who collected aerials gold in Turin four years ago, after he also failed to make a clean landing on his second jump, which earned him just 80.57 for a total of 192.52 - good enough for just 21st place.

Meanwhile, it was Zhongqing Liu of China, who produced the best jump of the day, collecting 124.78 for his first effort.

 

AS IT HAPPENS: Follow day 11 of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver