| A Double at the Park City Aerials NorAm |
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Aerialists Geneviève Tougas and Crystal Lee share the podium.
The defending NorAm Grand Prix women's aerials champion captured the gold medal, just ahead of Crystal Lee of Queensville, Ont., who picked up her first NorAm medal in two seasons. Tougas, 22, posted a winning two-jump score of 145.14 under sunny, warm and windless conditions. Lee scored 142.85, while third-place Jamie Myers of the U.S. was 142.36. "My obvious goal this year is to start competing on the World Cup circuit, but the first goal is to just gain more confidence with my jumping," said Tougas, who last season collected one bronze, one silver and three gold medals in NorAm events. "I didn't do my full degree of difficulty because I want to start a little bit slower," said Tougas. The silver medal was significant for Lee, who battled competition anxiety last season while failing to reach the NorAm podium. Her last NorAm medal was gold at Apex in 2008. "It feels really good," said Lee, 21, of Sunday's silver-medal performance. "It's a big thing because competition is tough for me. I know I can mentally sabotage myself, so I work more on focusing on myself (instead of others) and on my own breathing." "Last year was a bit of whirlwind," admitted Lee, who struggled with her landings while battling severe pain in her shins. In men's aerials, the Americans swept the podium. Nevin Brown, who's training with former Canadian World Cup team's aerials program leader Dmitriy Kavunov, posted a winning score of 189.11. Hans Gardner was second in 180.35 and Matthew Depeters third in 177.86. Jonathan Vellner of Red Deer, Alta., had difficulty with his first jump, but aced his second one to vault to fifth. His best-ever 104.69 points for a double-twisting triple flip gave Vellner a final score of 166.46. Travis Gerrits of Milton, Ont., was seventh in 135.53. NorAm competition resumes with another set of aerials finals Monday.
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