Related: Chinese aerialists came for gold but ended up with silver, says coach

    

China's Li Nina attends a press conference after she won the women's Alpine skiing aerials silver medal at the Turin Winter Olympics on Wednesday. (Xinhua photo)

SAUZE D'OULX, Italy, Feb. 22 (Xinhuanet By Chang Ailing) -- After a shocking crash, women's aerials top favorite Guo Xinxin of China handed the Olympic gold medal over to Evelyne Leu of Switzerland at the Turin Winter Olympics here Wednesday evening.

    The 22-year-old Guo led the first round of the final with a perfect back-lay-full-full jump, which earned her 103.17 points.

    She followed it up with a more difficult triple twisting back-full-full-full in the second round, crashing forward on the slope to finish seventh.

    With tears lingering in eyes, Guo smiled to the camera. "I know I missed the opportunity. I landed well but then fell. But I believe I'll do better. I believe I'll have the medal in 2010."

    In contrast to Guo, Swiss Leu, who was fifth after the first jump, rose to the top position with a perfect triple twisting. Shewon the gold with an aggregated point of 202.55.

    Leu said she was surprised she completed the difficult jump perfectly, since she hadn't done it much in the season. She decided to take the risk to strike for a medal since she was only placed fifth after the first jump.

    "I was always thinking I could beat them (Chinese aerialists), but I also knew it was really close," she said.

    

China's LI Nina in the finals of Women's Aerials at the Turin 2006 Winter Olympic Games at Sauze d'Oulx, Italy, Wednesday, Feb. 22, 2006. (Xinhua photo)

"I am so happy that I did a good jump. And I win with this jump," she said.

    On Guo's crash, she said "that was quite bad because she was right there on the landing. It was good for me, but it was not so good for her."

    China's Li Nina, the current World Cup leader, won the silver.

    "It's really a pity that we didn't get the gold medal and for me the second jump wasn't perfect," she said.

    Li was originally to perform her second jump with a difficulty degree of 3.900. But she lowered it to 3.525 after the first jump.

    "If I felt good before the second jump then I would do the 3.900 one. But due to the weather and my back injury, I didn't feel comfortable with that jump. I only did it twice this season and I am not one hundred percent sure that I can complete it. So I decided to do a jump that I feel confident of," she said.

    Australia's Alisa Camplin, the gold medalist of the Salt Lake City Games, got the bronze. Camplin tore her anterior cruciate ligament in October 2005. She came to Turin after a radical surgery.

    Camplin's teammate, Jacqui Cooper, who topped the qualifications, finished eighth after two stumbling landings. Enditem