Canadian aerials skier Marion Thénault, coming off an individual top-10 finish at her Olympic debut last February, earned a silver medal to open the women's World Cup season on Sunday in Ruka, Finland.
Only Danielle Scott of Australia scored higher than the 90.59 points posted by the 22-year-old from Sherbrooke, Que. Scott cruised to victory scoring 99.05 while Kazakhstan's Zhanbota Aldabergenova was a distant third (80.04).
At the Beijing Olympics, Thénault amassed 91.29 points on her second and best jump and placed seventh in the final, failing to finish among the top six for the super final at Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou, China.
She also teamed with Miha Fontaine and Lewis Irving to win Canada's first-ever bronze medal in mixed team aerials as the event made its Winter Games debut.