MOSCOW, March 11. /TASS/. Russian freestyle skiers won seven medals - three gold, one silver and three bronze - at the 2021 FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships stage in Kazakhstan’s Almaty in moguls and aerials disciplines.
The gold medals were brought by Maxim Burov in men’s aerials, Anastasia Smirnova in women’s dual moguls and by trio of Lyubov Nikitina, Maxim Burov and Pavel Krotov in team mixed aerials.
The silver medal was clinched by Viktoria Lazarenko in women’s dual moguls and three bronze medals were packed by Anastasia Smirnova in women’s moguls, Lyubov Nikitina in women’s aerials and Pavel Krotov in men’s aerials.
Maxim Burov is now the two-time world champion in men’s aerials (2019, 2021). The 22-year-old freestyle skier is also the bronze medal winner of the 2019 World Championship in team mixed aerials and the winner of the gold and bronze medals of the 2019 FISU Winter Universiade in Russia’s Krasnoyarsk.
Lyubov Nikitina, 22, is also the silver medalist winner in women’s aerials and the bronze medal winner in aerials team mixed event of the 2019 FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championship, in addition to her silver and bronze medals of the 2019 FISU Winter Universiade.
The gold and bronze at this tournament were the first medals to win at the World Championship competitions for 28-year-old Pavel Krotov.
This tournament is also a debut appearance at the World Championships for 18-year-old Anastasia Smirnova and 17-year-old Viktoria Lazarenko.
The Russian team currently tops the overall medals standings of the 2021 FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships with 12 medals (five gold, two silver and five bronze). They are followed by Australia with two gold and one silver medals and Canada in 3rd place with two gold and one bronze medals.
The 2021 FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championship is hosted by a number of countries, namely by Sweden’s Idre, Slovenia’s Rogla, Kazakhstan’s Almaty and Aspen of the United States.
After the ski and snowboard cross competitions in Idre last month, Rogla hosted the parallel and giant slalom snowboard competitions on March 1-2. Almaty held moguls and aerials events on March 8-11 and Aspen is set to organize slopestyle, halfpipe and big air events of both Snowboard and Freestyle Ski on March 12-16.
Russian athletes are competing at the 2021 FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships under the flag of the Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) and the official name of the team is the Russian Ski Federation (RSF).
In line with sanctions of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) against Russian sports, national athletes from Russia were banned from participating in the Olympic Games and World Championships under the national flag and to the tune of the Russian anthem until December 16, 2022.