Omischl clinches World Cup Title

MOSCOW – North Bay's Steve Omischl clinched the season’s crown in men’s aerials with a victory on Saturday at the World Cup in Russia.

Omischl totalled 240.32 points for his fifth victory this season. Stanislav Kravchuk of Ukraine finished second in 236.45 and Nicolas Thepaut of France, third at 226.26.

“Anytime I win an event I’m pleased,” said Omischl. “And I also jumped well. I feel like I really earned this one. Plus the conditions were great today which allowed everyone in the field to get off their hardest jumps. That put a lot of pressure on everyone and I was able to overcome that.”

In the overall standings, Omischl is now uncatchable.

“Winning the overall is something very special to me,” he said. “I really believe it is the hardest thing to do in sport. It’s even harder than winning at World Championships or the Olympics. You have to perform every single week. It really defines the best athlete.”

More than 35,000 spectators were at the competition, one of the largest crowds in recent memory for a freestyle skiing competition.

“The crowd wasn’t too happy with me because I bumped a Russian down to fourth place with my performance,” said Omischl with a laugh.

With files from www.freestyleski.com