By Freddy Perryman, U.S. Ski Team

CALGARY, Alberta -– Olympian Scotty Bahrke of Squaw Valley earned his first World Cup podium Saturday, finishing third. His career best finish came on the eve of the World Championships in Deer Valley Resort.

After finishing on the bubble in qualifying, Bahrke competed in Saturday’s finals throwing first a full double full-full, which he followed up with a stellar double full full-full.

“Its pretty wild, standing up there,” exclaimed Bahrke. “I don’t know if it’s really quite hit me yet. I’m really excited.”

“He has made a lot of impressive changes to his jumping and his takeoff over the summer,” said Freestyle Aerials Head Coach Todd Ossian. “It’s nice that all that hard work can pay off.”

For the World Championships, Bahrke intends to keep his aerial assault plan the same with the two different quad twisting doubles.

“I want to keep the same mindset,” said Bahrke. “I was really happy with landing the two jumps.”

Bahrke was the only U.S. male to make the finals in Calgary. Just missing this 10 person final were Americans Dylan Ferguson of Amesbury, Mass., in 11th and Ryan St. Onge of Winter Park, Colo, 12th.

Following her top qualification for Saturday’s finals, the two-time Olympian Emily Cook of Belmont, Mass., had a tough final. She finished sixth after two sketchy landings. Despite not getting the result she was hoping for, Cook had an excellent week in training and qualification. She was the only American woman who qualified for the finals.

Official results, FIS Freestyle World Cup, Calgary, Jan. 29, 2011, Aerials

Men

1. Warren Shouldice, Canada, 244.90

2. Renato Ulrich, Switzerland, 243.01

3. Scotty Bahrke, Squaw Valley, CA, 229.57

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11. Dylan Ferguson, Amesbury, MA

12. Ryan St. Onge, Winter Park, CO

21. Matthew DePeters, Hamburg, NY

Women

1. Shuang Cheng, China, 187.23

2. Mengtao Xu, China, 186.65

3. Olga Volkova, Ukraine, 175.40

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6. Emily Cook, Belmont, MA, 127.95