Those competing in Secret Garden over the coming two days will be the first FIS athletes in any discipline to do so in a World Cup-level competition.

Men’s and women’s individual events are due to be held both tomorrow and Sunday (December 17).

The lone aerials team event of the season is also scheduled to be held on Sunday.

The individual qualification phase of the competition will decide the results for World Cup points. 

The Chinese aerials contingent comes into the season-opening competition on a high having returned to form in the 2016-2017 campaign.

Qi Guangpu and Xu Mengtao managed podium finishes in every competition they entered on their way to claiming the respective men’s and women’s crystal globes.

Last season's overall triumph was the third of Xu’s career and it came on the back of a 2015-2016 campaign in which she missed all but the first event due to injury.

Although Qi’s 2016-2017 crystal globe was only the second of his career, he has finished in the top five of the overall rankings in all but one of the last eight seasons and is expected to be a force throughout the coming campaign.

Last season, he registered two victories and three runners-up finishes to move into 10th place on the all-time Aerial World Cup rankings with 26 career podiums.