Lassila wins third World Cup aerial gold

Australian aerial skier Lydia Lassila won her third World Cup event from five starts while snowboarder Scotty James was beaten by Shaun White at the US Open.

Australia's Lydia Lassila

Lydia Lassila has won a third aerial skiing World Cup gold medal in her fairytale comeback. (AAP)

Lydia Lassila's incredible comeback to aerial skiing gathered momentum with another World Cup win but there was heartbreak for teammate Danielle Scott who let the overall title slip from her grasp in Moscow.

Australian mother of two Lassila, 35, will go into the world championships in Sierra Nevada, Spain this week in red hot form, having won three of the five World Cup rounds since returning from three years out of the sport.

The 2010 Olympic gold medallist was joined on the podium in Moscow by countrywoman and 2015 world champion Laura Peel who took bronze.

But Scott was the sob story on an otherwise triumphant day for the Australians, botching her landing on her final jump and having to settle for fifth place.

Scott had only needed to finish above Mengtao Xu in the final event to claim the aerials title but the Chinese took second spot to pick up the globe.

"It's heartbreaking," Scott said of her final jump of the World Cup season.

"The jump was perfect. I placed my feet down and there was nothing wrong - the landing just didn't happen.

"It's been a good season. I will have to put my head down for next week."

Lassila came in third on the overall standings with 354 points, behind China's Xu Mengtao (480) and Scott (447).

"We didn't get lots of training in Moscow, but I felt like I knew what I was doing tonight. It's nice to get that quality back," Lassila said of her three strong jumps.

"I wanted to come here and win. It's rewarding when you think you can do something and then go do it."

Peel's podium result was a relief after a long road back after a near career-ending injury that kept her out of the 2015/16 season.

Meanwhile American two-time Winter Olympic halfpipe champion Shaun White got one back on Scotty James by relegating the Australian to second at the US Open in Vail, Colorado.

James had beaten White - widely regarded as the best professional snowboarder there has been - at the Olympic 'pipe in South Korea and at the X Games in Aspen, winning gold at both events.

But White showed he isn't quite ready to hand over the baton to James, pulling out a cab double cork 1440 and a double McTwist 1260 to win his seventh title in the event with a score of 92.74.

James was 10 points behind with the defending Winter Olympic Games champion, Iouri Podlatchikov of Switzerland third.


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Source: AAP


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