China dominates at Freestyle World Cup

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) - China's women swept the podium and Jia Zongyang added the men's gold on a strong day for the rising Asian power at the Freestyle World Cup on Friday.

Jia Zongyang saved a high-difficulty jump and took gold with a score of 128.96, putting him ahead of American Dylan Ferguson (118.86) while Canada's Olivier Rochon (111.78) claimed bronze.

Ferguson had the word Speedy on his helmet to honor the late Jeret "Speedy" Peterson on a day he was being honored at the Deer Valley Resort, where he first landed his trademark "hurricane:" three flips and five twists.

"This is awesome," said Ferguson. "This one's for Speedy. This is how he would have wanted it."

On Wednesday, Deer Valley officials renamed their freestyle aerials tow lift "Hurricane" in memory of Peterson, a 2010 Olympic silver medalist who took his own life on July 25 at age 29.

China's Xu Mengtau won her fourth gold in four events. Cheng Shuang took silver and Kong Fanyu bronze.

"They actually started recruiting three years before the Americans and it's showing now," U.S. freestyle program director Todd Schirman said of the Chinese.

"You can see how many young athletes we have in the semis," Schirman said. "We have three 17-year-olds, an amazing amount of athletes coming up. And to have leaders like Dylan ... is just outstanding when they show up and have career bests."