Willcox wins aerial skiing bronze at Cup

Australian aerial skier Abbey Willcox has claimed her first medal with a third-placed finish at the FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup in the United States.

Willcox landed a lay-full double back somersault to take home the bronze, behind winner Belarusian Aliaksandra Ramanouskaya and second-placed American Megan Nick in the final at Deer Valley, Utah, late on Friday night.

"It feels absolutely unreal and to be doing it in Deer Valley with this crowd is amazing," the 23-year-old said.

"A lot of nerves, a lot of adrenaline, a lot of excitement.

"It was my first time in the finals and on the podium so I had all sorts of emotions going on.

"We had a couple of tricky days training, it was snowing a lot and I knew I could jump during the snow, during the wind because we've had a lot of practice for that in the past, so I just took it jump by jump."

Willcox qualified for the final in fourth place, behind fellow Australian Laura Peel in third, but the latter crashed out of the decider to finish in ninth overall.

After three of seven events Peel is third overall, while Willcox is sixth, with the next world cup stop set for Moscow next weekend.

"I'm really excited for the next four world cups and the season and I can't wait," Willcox added.