Alexei Grishin wins gold in men's aerials, Jeret Peterson of U.S. wins silver

Alexei Grishin of Belarus won the gold medal in the men's aerials  Thursday at the Vancouver Winter Olympics, scoring 248.41 points on his two jumps.

Jeret "Speedy" Peterson, in fifth place after the first jump, rallied for a silver with the highest-scoring jump of round two, his "Hurricane" jump, and finished with 247.21 points.

Liu Zhongging of China won the bronze with 242.53 points.

Ryan St. Onge of the U.S. finished in fourth place with 239.93 points.

-- Houston Mitchell in Vancouver, Canada

Photo: Jeret Peterson. Credit: Mark J. Terrill / Associated Press

Lydia Lassila of Australia wins gold in women's aerials

Australia's Lydia Lassila won the gold medal in women's aerials at the Vancouver Winter Olympics on Wednesday.

Lassila scored 214.74 points. China's Li Nina won silver with 207.23, and China's Guo Xinxin won bronze with 205.22 points.

Three Americans, Lacy Schnoor, Ashley Caldwell and Emily Cook, finished ninth, 10th and 11th,  respectively.

-- Houston Mitchell in Vancouver, Canada

Photo: Lydia Lassila of Australia. Credit: Adrian Dennis, AFP / Getty Images

Day by day: U.S. Olympic medal haul so far

The U.S. has won 26 medals through Tuesday, Feb. 23, with seven gold, nine silver and 10 bronze.

Ryan St. Onge, Jeret Peterson qualify for finals of men's aerials

Ryan St. Onge (Winter Park, Colo.) and Jeret Peterson (Amesbury, Mass.) advanced to the finals in the men’s freestyle aerials during qualifying at the Vancouver Winter Olympics on Monday.

St. Onge finished second in qualifying with a score of 240.67, trailing only the 242.52 posted by Zongyang Jia of China. Peterson qualified in fifth with a 237.34, less than a point away from third place.

“I don’t worry about my scores too much,” said St. Onge. “I have had a lot of trouble landing this year. To come out today and land two jumps the way I wanted to is unbelievable.”

Two other Americans did not advance. Matt DePeters (Buffalo, N.Y.) was 17th with a 202.48, while Scotty Bahrke (Tahoe City, Calif.) was 23rd with a 168.72.

Defending Olympic champion Han Xiaopeng of China and this year's top jumper, Anton Kushnir of Belarus, both failed to qualify.

Kushnir won four times this season but fell on his second jump to drop out of the top 12. Han also fell on his second jump to finish 21st.

The finals for the men’s aerials will begin at 6 p.m. PST on Thursday.

-- Houston Mitchell in Vancouver, Canada

Jeret 'Speedy' Peterson's trademark 'hurricane' aerial trick

U.S. freestyle skier Jeret "Speedy" Peterson is watching Vancouver weather conditions in hopes that he can attempt his trademark "hurricane" aerial trick. Here’s how he does his quintuple-twisting triple back flip:

Emily Cook, Lacy Schnoor, Ashley Caldwell qualify for women's aerials finals

Emily Cook (Belmont, Mass.), Lacy Schnoor (Draper, Utah) and 16-year-old Ashley Caldwell (Hamilton, Va.) have qualified for the finals in the women’s aerials competition, to be held Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. PST.

Cook was fifth in qualifying with a score of 180.25, and Schnoor was sixth at 169.51. Caldwell was on the bubble at 12th, slipping in with a 162.34.

Alla Tsuper of Belarus led the field with a 195.76, followed by three Chinese: Nina Li (192.10), Xinxin Guo (189.16) and Shuang Cheng (180.91).

Jana Lindsey (Black Hawk, S.D.) finished 17th with a 151.69 and did not qualify.

-- Houston Mitchell in Vancouver, Canada

Photo: Nina Li of China performs in the women's freestyle aerials qualifications. Credit: Odd Andersen, AP.

How Wilson won moguls bronze

American Bryon Wilson won the bronze medal in the men's Olympic moguls competition Sunday, dominating the air portion of the event with his back flip double twist.

Bilodeau gives Canada its first gold medal on home soil

 Alexandre Bilodeau won the men's moguls competition, giving host nation Canada its first gold medal of the Vancouver Winter Olympics. It is the first time Canada has ever won a gold medal on its home soil.

Dale Begg-Smith of Australia finished second

Bryon Wilson of Park City, Utah was third.

Qualifications round leader  Guilbaut Colas of France was the last skier down the course, but finished in sixth place.

Graphic: Kearney's golden moment

American Hannah Kearney won the women's Olympic moguls competition Saturday with the top score in all three disciplines: turns, air and speed.

Hurricane Speedy: Jeret Peterson opens up

Will he or won’t he?

Freestyle skier Jeret  “Speedy” Peterson said on Wednesday night that the plan – barring “nasty wind” – is to go for the Hurricane. His much-vaunted signature Hurricane is an aerial trick featuring three flips and five twists.

‘I plan on doing the Hurricane,” he said. “I want to be able to do that trick. I want to be prepared to throw it.… We won’t know until game day.”

“I have had an insane amount of things happen to me and I’ve been through a crazy whirlwind of a life,” he said. “I’m only 28 years old and I feel like I’ve had enough turmoil and drama for three lifetimes. It’s made me grow up and it’s really made me figure out what is important to me.”

Turin resonated with him – and the public.

“I’ve gotten all the hate mail from people that I could possibly get and gotten all encouragement from people I could possibly get,” he said.

-- Lisa Dillman

Photo: Jeret Peterson performs a jump during the men's freestyle skiing World Cup event in Calgary, Alberta on Jan. 10. Credit: Sean Kilpatrick / Associated Press