Xu Mengtao takes aerials skiing World Cup silver medal in Minsk
CGTN
File photo: Xu Mengtao takes a training jump before the start of the Mixed Team Aerial Finals of the FIS Freestyle Ski World Championships at Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah, February 07, 2019. /VCG

File photo: Xu Mengtao takes a training jump before the start of the Mixed Team Aerial Finals of the FIS Freestyle Ski World Championships at Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah, February 07, 2019. /VCG

The 2014 Sochi Olympics silver medalist Xu Mengtao scored 95.06 points for her lay-full-full to secure the runner-up position at FIS Freestyle Ski Aerials World Cup in Minsk on Saturday. 

The gold medal went to Australia's Laura Peel, who put down two solid runs in the finals with a superb full-tuck-full on her last attempt to receive her career's highest score of 106.53 points.

Xu's compatriot Xu Sicun rounded out the women's podium in third place. Xu made an impressive comeback from injury to perform a triple flip jump – a lay-tuck-full which received a score of 87.92 points. It was her first top-3 finish in the 2019/20 World Cup campaign.

With her runner-up finish on Saturday, Xu went to the head of the women's Freestyle Skiing Aerial's standings with 325 points after five competitions and only two more events left in the season. Peel sits in second spot, just six points behind Xu.