Zongyang hasn’t registered a single point three times this season, two of those from the last two rounds in Minsk and Kreischberg, however when he has been available he has been impressive.
And that was no different in Russia as he produced by far the best score of the men’s event in, 124.89, to claim gold with Denis Osipau second ahead of current World Cup leader Olivier Rochon.
Rochon beat home hope Ilya Burov to bronze and those points could prove vital if he is to remain at the top of the standings after the season finale at Myrkdalen-Voss next weekend.
Zongyang’s win, his third of the season, puts him second overall with 436 points although the advantage is in Rochon’s favour with his total 514 and only 100 more points on offer.
Meanwhile in the ladies aerials competition, China completely dominated with Kong Fanyu taking gold and her teammates occupying second, third and fourth.
World Cup leader Xu Mengtao took silver, posting 94.29 to Kong’s 96.05, with the result putting her within touching distance of claiming the Crystal Globe come Myrkdalen-Voss.
With second-placed Olga Volkova only managing fifth Xu now holds an 80 point lead going into the final round while Cheng Shuang took bronze at the expense of Zhang Xin.
