Follow Canada Immigration and Canada News: Beijing time, December 22, news: The second stop of the 2013-2014 FIS Freestyle Skiing Aerials World Cup was held at the Beijing National Stadium, also known as the Bird's Nest. In the men's competition, 22-year-old Travis Gerrits from Canada won the gold medal with a score of 126.70 points. China had three athletes qualify for the final championship round, with Wu Chao taking the silver medal with 124.89 points. Jia Zongyang and Qi Guangpu both attempted high-difficulty maneuvers in the final round but failed; Jia Zongyang scored 96.53 points to take third place, and Qi Guangpu scored 80.50 points to finish in fourth place.
This event marked the first time the aerials competition was held at the Bird's Nest, with the competition format identical to that of the Winter Olympics. The top 12 athletes from the qualifying round advanced to the finals, which followed a three-round elimination format: 12 to 8, 8 to 4, and finally, the top 4 athletes competed for the gold, silver, and bronze medals. The event was held as a night competition and took place indoors rather than outdoors. In yesterday's women's singles event, three Chinese athletes surrounded the Winter Olympic champion Lydia Lassila, with Zhang Xin taking the title. In today's men's competition, Chinese athletes Jia Zongyang, Qi Guangpu, Liu Zhongqing, Wu Chao, Zhou Hang, and Wang Xindi competed together. In the previous week's Beidahu stop, Liu Zhongqing won the men's gold medal.
The qualifying round was held this afternoon at 15:00. Qi Guangpu's first-round maneuver was a bdFFF with a difficulty coefficient of 1.525, scoring 127.60 points to rank first; Gerrits performed the same maneuver and followed closely with 122.62 points. Liu Zhongqing and Wu Chao both performed a bdFFF with a difficulty coefficient of 4.425, scoring 120.36 and 115.93 points respectively, ranking fifth and sixth. In the second qualifying round, Jia Zongyang scored 122.17 points to also qualify for the finals. Zhou Hang's first-round maneuver was a bFdFF with a difficulty coefficient of 4.425, scoring 84.07 points, and his second-round maneuver was a bdFFF with a difficulty of 4.525, scoring 106.33 points to rank 19th. Wang Xindi's first-round maneuver was a bFdF with a difficulty of 3.525, scoring 92.36 points, and his second round was a bdFF with a difficulty of 3.525, also scoring 92.36 points, resulting in both being eliminated.
In the first round of the finals, the first athlete to compete, Liu Zhongqing, performed a bFdFF with a difficulty coefficient of 4.425, but made a major error and scored only 79.65 points, finishing last among the 12 athletes and being eliminated. Qi Guangpu performed excellently, scoring 126.99 points with a bFdFF of 4.425 difficulty to top the leaderboard. Jia Zongyang's maneuver was a bdFFF with a difficulty of 4.525, scoring 125.79 points to rank second. Canadian athlete Travis Gerrits performed a bLdFF with a difficulty of 4.175, scoring 118.57 points to rank 6th, and Wu Chao performed a bFdFF with a difficulty of 4.425, scoring 114.16 points to rank 8th.
In the second round of the finals, Qi Guangpu's maneuver was a bdFFF with a difficulty of 4.525, scoring 124.89 points to rank first. Wu Chao's maneuver was the same as Qi Guangpu's, scoring 123.08 points to rank second. Jia Zongyang's maneuver was a bFdFF with a difficulty of 4.425, scoring 121.68 points to rank third. Canadian athlete Travis Gerrits also performed a bFdFF with a difficulty of 4.425, scoring 121.24 points to rank fourth and narrowly advance to the final.
The final championship round was similar to the previous day's women's event, with three Chinese athletes surrounding one foreign athlete. Gerrits performed a bdFFF with a difficulty of 4.525, executing it perfectly to score 126.70 points. Wu Chao performed a bFFdF with a difficulty of 4.525, scoring 124.89 points. Jia Zongyang attempted a bFdFdF with a difficulty of 4.900, but made a significant error; four judges gave him an execution score of 1.0, and the fifth judge gave 0.6, resulting in a total score of only 96.53 points. Qi Guangpu, who had been leading the leaderboard, attempted the highest difficulty maneuver of the event, a bdFFdF with a difficulty of 5.000, but under the pressure, he made a major error; four judges gave him an execution score of 0.3, and one gave 0.6, resulting in a score of only 80.50 points.
Ultimately, Gerrits won the gold medal with 126.70 points, Wu Chao took second place with 124.89 points, Jia Zongyang ranked third with 96.53 points, and Qi Guangpu finished in fourth place with 80.50 points.
