Aerials, Men

China and Belarus entered the Men’s Aerials competition at the 2010 Winter Olympics as the two countries with the most medaling potential. Of the 18 podium spots at the 2009-2010 World Cup circuit, these two nations had stood in 15 of them, with Anton Kushnir of Belarus holding 6 of those medals. Qi Guangpu (3) and Jia Zongyang (2) of China were the only others to have captured more than one. Belarus also had Dmitry Dashchinsky, who won bronze and silver at the 1998 and 2006 Olympics respectively and was runner-up at two World Championships in 2001 and 2007. The defending Olympic champion was Han Xiaopeng of China. Jia was the top qualifier in the initial round, and disastrous second jumps from Kushnir and Han left them out of contention for this finals.

North America had dominated the podium at the 2009 World Championships, with Ryan St. Onge of the United States and Steve Omischl and Warren )Wookie) Shouldice of Canada claiming the top three spots, but all had problematic first runs in the finals, leaving them unlikely to medal. The top three spots were a mixed bag: Liu Zhongqing of China, who had one silver medal in the latest World Cup, won the bronze, the troubled Jeret )Speedy) Peterson, who had been ejected from the 2006 Olympic games after a drunken fight, captured the silver by successfully executing his five-spin, three-somersault )Hurricane) jump, and Aleksey Grishin of Belarus, a 2001 World Champion and 2002 Olympic bronze medalist, took home the gold.