RAUBICHI, Belarus — Stanislav Kravchuk led a Ukrainian 1-2 finish at a men's freestyle aerials World Cup event, while Yang You of China won the women's competition to claim her first career victory.
Kravchuk scored 117.92 points on Saturday and was followed by his teammate Oleksandr Abramenko with 102.87 points. Thomas Lambert of Switzerland was third, another 2.88 behind.
"My technique was better today so I was stronger," Kravchuk said. "It was tough to compete today because of strong winds."
Heavy early morning snowfall at the winter sports complex in Raubichi, 20 kilometers north of Minsk, and above-freezing temperatures made it difficult for skiers to develop the necessary speed to perform their jumps.
Kravchuk's only other top finish in the World Cup was in 2008.
Olivier Rochon of Canada made several mistakes in his jump and finished fourth, but he remained at the top of the aerials standings with 454 points after eight of 10 events. Lambert moved into second place with 348 points.
Yang Yu performed a nearly clean jump for 80.62 points from the judges. Tanja Schaerer of Switzerland was second with 78.01 points. She was followed by another Chinese skier, Zhang Xin, with 75.12.
"This is my first top podium and I'm really happy," Yang said. "I was fighting with bad weather and myself and I won."
Xu Mengtao of China, who skipped the event, leads the women's aerials standings with 480 points.
The next World Cup meet is scheduled for March 10 in Moscow.