Kelowna native, Steve Omischl, earned gold Friday, February 6, at the FIS Freestyle Skiing aerials event at Cypress Mountain. Anton Kushnir of Belarus and Stanislav Kravchuk of Ukraine placed second and third respectively.

Omischl maintained his sizeable lead atop the World Cup standings with 337 points while Leu's win put her in seventh place in World Cup rankings with 208 points.

"This is a full event to simulate the Olympics. In the semi-finals I did two solid jumps, then finals and two solid jumps again so I can't ask for more," said Omischl, a three-time World Cup aerials champion.

Omischl was one of three Canadians to make the final 12 along with Ryan Blais, who finished fourth, and Olivier Rochon, who was ninth.

On the women's side, Evelyne Leu of Switzerland was the top aerialist, finishing ahead of Shuangfei Dai and Shuang Cheng, both of China. Leu was thrilled with her best showing of the season.

"I was quite calm and I really wanted to enjoy the whole event, the whole atmosphere," she said. "Today it was really good conditions and it was no problem."

Earlier, the Canadian freestyle ski cross team took the 'Own the Podium' motto to new heights, earning five of six available medals in men's and women's ski cross.

Chris Del Bosco of Sudbury, Ont., finished first on the men's side with Stanley Hayer of Edmonton and Davey Barr of Vancouver finishing second and third respectively.

"This was an awesome day for the Canadians," said Del Bosco. "We wanted to do well here. We've been planning on it all off-season and we kind of wanted to show everyone what we're made of."

He added it was "just amazing" to have three men and two women on the podium.

Barr was at a loss to explain the men's success Friday.

"You know, I'm not really sure. Our support staff is unbelievable this year," he said.

Although the Canadians had success on the day, Hayer said he was disappointed with the second-place finish.

"(It) was probably the worst I've ever felt getting second. I thought I had it (a win). Everyone said I had a huge lead going in there but I jumped a little far on the last one," he said.

Aleisha Cline of Squamish, B.C., was the winner on the women's side with Ashleigh McIvor of Whistler, B.C., in second. Austrian Karin Huttart finished third.

The event at Cypress Mountain is the ninth stop on the circuit and included aerials, moguls and the rising sport of ski cross.