By Kirill Karin
It’s no secret that this freestyle jumper enjoys great popularity in Canada. Neither frost nor snowfall deterred the 2,000+ visitors in attendance at the World Cup event in Mont Gabriel. Winning in this small city is now a tradition for Anton Kushnir — one of the leaders of the Belarusian national team. He knows the peculiarities of Mont Gabriel’s hills perfectly.
Kushnir’s only rival for first place was Guangpu Qi of China. However, Anton again proved his status as world leader. His early, less successful, debut during the Asian rounds may be explained by him being on less than optimal form at the beginning of the season. Having brilliantly performed his famous jumps in Mont Gabriel, the Belarusian became unbeatable. Meanwhile, the Chinese athlete made several mistakes.
Pleasingly, the ‘gold’ success of the Crystal Globe owner was supported by a silver medal from Belarusian Alla Tsuper. Her major opponents were also from China, performing complex programmes. Fortunately, her jumps were near perfect, leaving her in second place behind Xu Mengtao.
The Chinese have now almost ‘invaded’ the premier positions in the World Cup overall standings. Only Anton Kushnir (currently placed third) rivals this Asian armada.
