Peel claims first win in seven years
Published Mon 04 Mar 2019
VIS Aerial Skier Laura Peel has won the second World Cup event of her career, after finishing on top in Shimao Lotus Mountain, China.
Her result was a well-deserved reward after a second place finish in Moscow just two weeks ago.
Peel qualified for the final in fourth place with a 84.42 point full-full jump, and used the same jump to progress to the top six super final.
In the super final, Peel stepped up her degree of difficulty, performing a 96.58 full-double full jump to easily take the victory, 14.8 points ahead of second place.
“I couldn’t be happier with how today went! We had some really tricky conditions with the temperature in double digits, and some swirling winds," Peel said of her second World Cup win.
"I'm very grateful to my coaches for getting my speed right on all my jumps and super stoked I was able to put all my jumps down.”
Peel placed 10th the following day during the second event, while teammate Abbey Willcox finished 15th in the first event and 14th in the second and first year VIC World Cup program athlete Brittany George placed 16th in the first and 13th in the second.
With China the final stop in the World Cup season, Peel has finished a personal best third in the world on the standings, improving on her previous best of fourth achieved in 2012 and 2013.