Aerials is not just a freestyle skiing discipline, but one of the most eye-catching spectacles winter sports have to offer, with Muscovites recently privileged to enjoy top class performances in a World Cup leg.
The cream of the crop was back in the Russian capital to settle old scores on Saturday night.Home advantage could not inspire the Russians though as the Chinese proved to be the ones to catch.There were no hosts in the top 12 of the ladies' event, which saw total domination of the freestylers from the Celestial Empire. The Chinese four eventually turned the superfinals into their own internal affair with Fanyu Kong claiming a stage win, and the World Cup overall leader in the discipline, Xu Mengtao, retaining her yellow jersey with second place on the night.In the meantime, the men's event gave the home crowd a local man to cheer on. Ilya Burov became the only Russian to get through to the final four. However, the 20-year-old Burov stopped a single step away from the podium, next up on the ramp Jia Zongyang. The Chinese offered so close to perfection, and claimed first place to complete his country's triumph.The current World Cup leader Canadian Olivier Rochon retained his position with the third best performance in Moscow.The freestylers take to Norway for the next stage of the World Cup on March 14.