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**truebluefan** · 03-03-2008, 10:40 PM

INAWASHIRO, Japan (Feb. 17) - Olympian Ryan St. Onge (Winter Park, CO) shook off a nasty headwind to put down a perfect landing on his final jump Sunday and earn his first World Cup aerial podium in 14 months. St. Onge was third, less than a point out of second place on the 2009 FIS Freestyle World Championships venue. "He got his mental game back," Coach Matt Christensen said.

Belarussian Anton Kushnir won the men's event with 249.31 points and World Cup leader Steve Omischl of Canada, who led qualifying, was second at 242.58. St. Onge, vaulting from sixth in qualifying, stuck the landing of a double-full, full, full (four twists, three flips) to finish at 241.87.

It's his best World Cup result since winning Dec. 9, 2006 at Jilin Beida Lake, China, in the season-opening aerial meet where he earned the fifth victory of his career. Scotty Bahrke (Park City, UT) was 10th with Dylan Ferguson (Amesbury, MA) missing finals in 13th place.

World Cup leader Jacqui Cooper of Australia was the women's victor with 205.46 points. Jana Lindsey (Black Hawk, SD) was 10th, Emily Cook (Belmont, MA) 11th and Jaime Myers (Boise, ID) 15th.

"I jumped all morning and checked out the wind and didn't have any problems. Then I went down to the knoll to talk with Matt and I couldn't believe the headwind. It was unbelievable. It was pretty scary," St. Onge said. "I asked Matt if this was what we'd been jumping in because I didn't feel any of it up top when I was jumping, and he said, 'Yup. It's been like this all morning.'

"I didn't worry about it then. I don't like change and if this is what I'd been jumping in, and I liked my jumps, then that was fine," he said.

After a disappointing performance a week earlier when he was 29th at Cypress Mountain, the 2010 Olympic venue near Vancouver, St. Onge was looking for a little redemption.

"Last week [at Cypress Mountain], my goal was to get comfortable on the Olympic site, but that didn't work out. So then I decided to get comfortable on next year's World Championships site, and this is great.

"One of my goals last year was to get some seconds and thirds. I've had five wins but no other podiums, so I wanted to fill that in a little. I didn't want to change the wins for a second or third, but now I have a third and I got rid of any mental block [about only victories], if I had one," he said.

Christensen added, "The placing is always nice. Podiums are good, but I'm so stoked about the way Ryan jumped. He got his mental game back this week. He was jumping like he did two years ago and that's just great to see. He has such incredible talent and if this confidence goes forward with him, well...he could be a force again."

The freestyle tour moves next to Sierra Nevada, Spain, for a ski cross competition Saturday and then to Moscow for a downtown aerials contest March 1. In addition, Spindleruv Mlyn, Czech Republic, will host moguls and SX March 1-2.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
2008 FIS FREESTYLE WORLD CUP
Inawashiro, JPN - Feb. 17, 2008
Men's Aerials (12 made finals)
1. Anton Kushnir, Belarus, 249.31 points
2. Steve Omischl, Canada, 242.58
3. Ryan St. Onge, Winter Park, CO, 241.87
4. Renato Ulrich, Switzerland, 240.62
5. Xaiopeng Han, China, 238.37
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10. Scotty Bahrke, Park City, UT, 207.36
13. Dylan Ferguson, Amesbury, MA
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Women's Aerials (12 made finals)
1. Jacqui Cooper, Australia, 205.46
2. Alla Tsuper, Belarus, 203.73
3. Nina Li, China, 192.28
4. Amber Peterson, Canada, 165.81
5. Xinxin Guo, China, 162.35
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10. Jana Lindsey, Black Hawk, SD, 151/72
11. Emily Cook, Belmont, MA, 149.53
15. Jaime Myers, Boise, ID

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