CHONGLI, China, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- China's Liu Mengting won bronze in the women's freeski big air at the FIS Freeski and Snowboard Big Air World Cup at Genting Secret Garden Snow Park on Saturday, boosting confidence ahead of her Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic debut.
Liu, a World Cup winner in Klagenfurt last season, opened the final with a 1260 on her first run for 75.75 points to sit fifth. She then produced two strong jumps that topped the single-run rankings, finishing on 162.25 to secure third.
Britain's Kirsty Muir won with 174.50, and Canada's Naomi Urness took silver on 165.75. Due to forecast inclement weather, the freeski big air finals were moved up from Sunday to Saturday.
"I'm very satisfied with today's result because I performed better than in the heats," Liu said. "At first I wanted to follow what I did in training, but during the warm-up I felt the left-side trick was more suitable today, so I arranged the runs that way."
"My overall score fell short because of the first run," she said. "For the second run, I chose a relatively conservative trick instead of pushing for higher difficulty. I already had a valid score on the right side - 80 is not low in today's competition - so I used the left-side trick to lift my total. I wanted to control the overall score. The right-side score was already high, and even if I tried again it wouldn't go much higher, so I chose the left."
Compared with the heats, Liu said her mindset had shifted. "My confidence improved a lot today. I told myself I could do it no matter the speed - even if it felt slow, the trick would still be fine. I just needed to trust myself."
"I felt my consistency and trick difficulty were insufficient, and there is a gap between me and the world's top athletes," she said. "This season, I'm focusing on increasing difficulty and improving stability. But when difficulty rises, stability often drops, especially at high-level World Cup events."
Returning to Chongli for the first time since 2019, Liu praised the new big air venue. "This jump was newly built for the World Cup. It feels great," she said. "Competing at home gives me more confidence. Doing well here will give me more belief in my tricks - taking it one event at a time. At the next stop in Shougang Park, I might raise the difficulty in the first run."
"Big air isn't like slopestyle - there aren't so many variables," she added. "Things like takeoff and landing details are something I can control well now."
Liu also noted judging trends. "This time the judges focused more on grabs," she said. "Before the Olympics, they will make their standards very clear, so athletes know what they want. From this event, height and grabs are the first things they look at. I'll pay attention to that in future competitions."
The World Cup moves to Beijing's Shougang Park on December 4. "The next stops are quite close together. I'll go one by one," Liu said. "By the time the Milan Olympics come around, maybe everything will fall into place."
"I'm really looking forward to Milan-Cortina. It will be my first Olympics," she said. "I might be a bit nervous, thinking about how to show my best. But once I arrive at the venue, I'll focus on myself."
"Before that, I felt the big-name riders were far beyond my reach," she said. "But after winning, as my difficulty increased bit by bit, I felt I could stand on the same stage and compete with them."
"I want to fight for the podium, to show the world what Chinese athletes can do on the big stage, and to let everyone see that we can perform beautiful tricks," Liu said. ■
