Winter Vinecki is starting the new year off with a bang. The 27-year-old was back on top of the World Cup podium in Lac-Beaufort, nearly two years after her last win on Canadian turf. Tuesday's victory, combined with Wednesday's 2nd-place finish, officially secured her spot on the U.S. Olympic aerials team for the 2026 Milan Cortina Games.

Vinecki was the only other skier outside the Chinese athletes to attempt a triple on the first day of competition, landing a back full-full-full for 93.58 points. The American is finding her way back to top form after injuring two discs in her neck last February while training.

"It's just an amazing feeling being back on top of the podium, especially after coming off of an injury last season," she said. "I'm just really excited. I took a pretty hard crash in Ruka first comp, and then it didn't go my way the second time. We're still getting back to it and getting the confidence every jump."

All of this season’s World Cup competitions serve as selection events for the U.S. Olympic team. Up to two men and three women automatically can be named to the team based on their best single result at one of the selection events, with the caveat that they must have a podium finish to trigger the automatic selection. With two events left to go, Vinecki’s results in Lac-Beaufort mean she mathematically has clinched a spot regardless of what happens at the remaining competitions.

Vinecki joins Quinn Dehlinger, who previously qualified based on last season’s results, on the roster for Milan Cortina. The U.S. team ultimately is expected to include four men and four women.

Canada's Marion Thenault finished behind Vinecki on Day 1 after completing a back full-double full for 81.78 points, while Emma Weiss (GER) rounded out the podium with 79.33 points to claim the second World Cup podium finish of her career. Thenault's results across two days in Lac-Beaufort pushed her to third in the World Cup standings.

No Chinese athlete finished on the women's podium for the first time this season. Chen Meiting, who topped the first round of the final with a clean back lay-full-full, and Xu Mengtao, who followed close behind with a triple jump of her own, finished 5th and 6th, respectively, in the superfinal after uncharacteristic falls when landing their triples. 

Two American women in addition to Vinecki made it to Tuesday's finals. Tasia Tanner, the only other American to advance to the superfinal, set a personal best with a 4th-place finish, and Kaila Kuhn placed 8th. Karenna Elliott (14th) and Dani Loeb (16th) did not make it out of the qualifying round.

On the men's side, Dehlinger claimed his third career World Cup podium finish after placing 3rd on Tuesday with a back double full-full-full for 123.53 points. 

Dmytro Kotovskyi (UKR) nabbed the win after landing the Hurricane, American Jeret “Speedy” Peterson's trademark trick consisting of five twists and three flips with one of the highest degrees of difficulty. The Ukrainian is the only skier outside Peterson to land the trick in competition so far, earning his first World Cup win with it in 2023 at Deer Valley and setting a World Cup record score of 138.32 points at the time. Lac-Beaumont and Kotovskyi have quite the history, with the 24-year-old finishing 2nd and 3rd on the same course during the 2022-23 season. This time around, Kotovskyi obtained 131.56 points to claim the third World Cup win of his career, while China's Sun Jiaxu finished behind him with 125.97 points. 

"I'm so happy and glad that I win today with the Hurricane," Kotovskyi said. "I was nervous almost every time, but I’m training to calm down in the moment. I don’t know if you can see it on my face, but I’m really happy now.”

The American men were looking in top form with four additional athletes advancing into the first round of finals. Connor Curran, the second American to advance to the superfinal, missed out on the podium with 110.86 points. Derek Krueger narrowly missed the superfinal after placing 7th in the first round of the final, with Ashton Salwan taking 10th and Ian Schoenwald taking 12th. Chris Lillis (18th) did not advance out of the qualifying round. 

The first day in Lac-Beaumont almost felt like a warmup compared to the second day of competition, which significantly raised the level of athleticism with both the men and women saving their toughest tricks for last. All three women on the podium landed triples for the second time this season, while all three men on the podium completed five twists.

Australia's Laura Peel took the World Cup win after landing a clean back full-full-full for 113.76 points. Vinecki followed closely behind after landing the same jump for 109.90 points, while Xu came in third with 97.02 after touching down backward during her landing.

"I'm really happy with that jump, really happy with my jumping all day," Peel said after her win. "Yesterday wasn't really my day, so I was really motivated to come back today and do some good jumps, so I'm really stoked with that. It's pretty epic to see more and more women up there, throwing the big tricks because we can."

Three additional American women advanced to the first round of the final on Day 2, with only one qualifying for the superfinal. Elliott took 6th, reaching her first superfinal since returning from injury. Kuhn and Tanner placed 9th and 10th, respectively, while Loeb (21st) missed the cut for the final. 

On the men's side, Sun came back stronger after his 2nd-place finish on Tuesday, winning his fifth World Cup podium event with 131.58 points. Li placed 2nd with 124.95 points with Noe Roth (SUI) trailing close behind with 122.91 points. After two days of competition, Li maintained his lead in the World Cup standings while Sun rose to second, six points behind his compatriot. Kotovskyi sits in 3rd with 218 points after failing to advance to the superfinal on the second day of competition. 

Curran, Lillis, and Salwan competed in the first round of the final during the second day of men's competition. Curran, who claimed 6th after a stumble on his landing, was the sole American to advance to the superfinal after Salwan fell on his landing and Lillis was just edged out by China's Qi Guangpu.

The World Cup season comes to an end this weekend with individual and team aerials competitions in Lake Placid, New York.