Canada's Olivier Rochon earns bronze at aerials World Cup

Olivier Rochon of Gatineau, Que., claimed bronze in freestyle skiing on Saturday at the FIS World Cup in Changchun, China.

His performance capped a strong showing from the Canadian team, with every one of the country's athletes making it into the finals round of the first aerial event of the season.

Rochon, the 2012 World Cup champion, was happy to land in third place at 84.75 behind China's Zongyang Jia (128.51) and Guangpu Qi (128.05).

“This competition was really an extension of our [pre-season] training camp because we didn’t really get to finish the camp because of bad weather, so I didn’t have a chance to get up to my full [degree of difficulty]," he said.

"I did make a small mistake on my last jump, but I knew that even if I hadn’t it couldn’t have scored high enough to give me a win, so I’m really happy with the result, it’s the best I could have hoped for.”

Travis Gerrits, from Milton, Ont., and Jean-Christophe André, from Montreal, Que., finished ninth and 10th, respectively.

On the women's side, Laval, Que., native Sabrina Guerin made it to the finals in her return to competition after missing last season with a torn Achilles tendon.

Guerin placed 12th in the finals with a 55.75 after touching down on her finals jump. Mengtao Xu of China won with a score of 109.06.