Omischl takes gold at Cypress

Vancouver, BC – North Bay's Steve Omischl won the gold medal Friday in the men’s aerials final at the Canada Post Freestyle Grand Prix World Cup competition on the 2010 Olympic site at Cypress Mountain.

Omischl and Anton Kushnir of Belarus both earned 250.96 points in the final but Omischl was awarded the gold after the tie-breaking procedure that looked at raw scores before the degree of difficulty was included. It was the Canadian’s second victory this season. Stanislav Kravchuk of Ukraine took the bronze with 250.64.

“I’m totally exhausted,” said Omischl, the two-time defending FIS World Cup aerials champion and current points leader on the tour.

“It was special to win here for sure but I approached this competition like any other World Cup. We’re here to do a job and execute a plan that we rehearsed over and over. But this was an important venue and I’m quite proud to have achieved my goal.”

Ryan Blais of Grande Prairie, Alta., posted his best result this season placing fourth at 240.10 and Olivier Rochon of Gatineau, Que., was ninth.

Omischl leads the World Cup standings after five events with 337 points followed by Jeret Peterson of the U.S., with 242 and his compatriot Ryan St. Onge with 213. Kyle Nissen of Calgary, who didn’t qualify for tonight’s final, remains fourth overall.