Liz Gardner has finished in fifth place in the Moscow aerial skiing World Cup, topping the Australian performances in an event that the Flying Kangaroos were relieved to complete unharmed.

Competing on a temporary jump hill constructed from scaffolding in the grounds of the University of Moscow, athletes battled strong headwinds and struggled to get enough speed for their takeoffs.

Jacqui Cooper fared the worst, aborting her triple twisting triple somersault in mid-flight, but landing safely

The World Cup leader received no score for not performing her nominated jump, and finished in 12th and last place.

Gardner led the field after the opening round of jumps, but slipped to fifth with her second jump, a relatively low level of difficulty single twisting double somersault.

The 27-year-old Mt Buller skier finished on a total of 154.44 points.

Australia’s number two, Lydia Lassila, missed the landing on her first jump, improved in her second effort but could only manage 10th place overall on 139.76 points

The gold went to US skier Emily Cook on 160.41 points.

Canada’s Deidre Dionne was second on 159.28 points, with third place going to Chinese jumper Xin Zhang on 156.51.

The result had no impact on the battle for the World Cup title, Cooper having wrapped that up at the previous event in Inawashiro two weeks ago.

But Lassila’s tenth placing has dropped her back to fourth position on the standings.

She now has 380 points, 13 behind Belarussian Alla Tsuper and 25 points behind second placed skier Nina Li of China.

The final event of the aerial skiing season will be contested in Davos, Switzerland, next weekend.

In moguls action, Dale Begg-Smith finished in ninth place in Spicak-Marienbad, Czecch Republic.

Begg-Smith placed second in qualifying, but went out in the first head-to-head round of the dual moguls competition to US skier Patrick Deneen.

French skier Guilbaut Colas won the event, and now trails Begg-Smith by just 15 points in the battle for the World Cup title.

The Australian sits on 439 points while Colas is on 424, with three events remaining in the season.

And in snowboarding, Damon Hayler has moved up five places on the World Cup points table after finishing in 11th place in the snowboard cross World Cup in Lake Placid, New York.

Hayler is now in 2oth position, while team-mate Alex Pullin, 45th in the Lake Placid event, is in ninth place on the standings.

In halfpipe, 18-year-old Nathan Johnstone finished in 11th place in Calgary, Canada, in only the second World Cup of his career.

Courtesy OWI/Sportcom