Marion Thénault collects silver medal for Canada at women’s aerials World Cup opener | CBC Sports

Canadian aerials skier Marion Thénault, coming off an individual top-10 finish at her Olympic debut last February, earned a silver medal to open the women’s World Cup season on Sunday in Ruka, Finland.

Only Danielle Scott of Australia scored higher than the 90.59 points posted by the 22-year-old from Sherbrooke, Que. Scott cruised to victory scoring 99.05 while Kazakhstan’s Zhanbota Aldabergenova was a distant third (80.04).

At the Beijing Olympics, Thénault amassed 91.29 points on her second and best jump and placed seventh in the final, failing to finish among the top six for the super final at Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou, China.

She also teamed with Miha Fontaine and Lewis Irving to win Canada’s first-ever bronze medal in mixed team aerials as the event made its Winter Games debut. On Sunday, Irving picked up bronze behind Swiss duo Pirmin Werner and Noe Roth.

WATCH | Thénault rides strong 2nd jump to 7th-place Olympic finish:

Thenault narrowly misses chance at aerials’ final

Canadian Marion Thenault scored big with her second jump in Final 1, but finished less than a point out of a spot in Final 2.

Flavie Aumond of Lac-Beauport, Que., placed 10th on Sunday. She scored 80.32 in the qualifier before sliipping in the first final with 70.56 points.

Thénault has been a quick study since gaining a spot on the national development team four years ago and training full-time after being recruited by Freestyle Canada.The former gymnast became a full-time member of Canada’s World Cup team in the 2020-21 season and twice reached the podium on the way to grabbing FIS freestyle rookie of the year honours.

Thénault entered last season coming off a sixth-place performance at the world championships and posted three top-five finishes, including silver at a World Cup last January in Lac-Beauport, Que., to place eighth in the world rankings.

In January 2021, she won bronze in Moscow and had her career-best result with gold in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Thénault, who is studying at Montreal’s Concordia University to become an aerospace engineer, entered the off-season wanting to add to her repertoire by developing a triple jump for a better chance to reach the World Cup podium more consistently.

WATCH | Thénault — a natural in aerials:

It took a week for Marion Thenault to stick with aerial skiing

As a child watching the Olympics, Marion Thenault never thought she would get into something like aerial skiing. Now, the Canadian will be the one twisting through the air wearing the maple leaf at Beijing 2022.