THE CANADIAN PRESS
PHOTOGRAPHY: S-Media
China won the first ever aerial team event on the freestyle World Cup on Sunday to wrap up a successful weekend for the home nation inside the Bird’s Nest stadium.
The team of Jia Zongyang, Xu Mengtao and Qi Guangpu earned a total of 324.69 points to beat Russia by 2.10 points. Belarus was third with 310.03 points. The United States was fourth on 276.88.
Canada narrowly missed out on advancing to the six-team final as Travis Gerrits of Milton, Ont., Olivier Rochon of Gatineau, Que., and Sabrina Guerin of Laval, Que., finished with 261.56 points in qualifying.
China also dominated Saturday’s individual events, with Qi and Xu winning the men’s and women’s competitions, respectively.
The team event is new for this season, which each three-member team including at least one female athlete.
China is hosting an increased number of winter sports events over the coming months to ramp up public interest for its bid for the 2022 Winter Olympics.
