DEER VALLEY, UTAH (February 2, 2012) – Mikael Kingsbury matched the FIS Freestyle record here on the 2002 Olympic course tonight with his sixth-straight mogul win and a score of 25.90.
“I think that was my most satisfying win of my career,” said the 19-year-old, explaining, “In Deer Valley it’s like the Super Bowl of skiing. It’s a hard course, it’s a night event and there’s a huge crowd. I’m so stoked to win here.”
Kingsbury, who qualified second to his teammate Alex Bilodeau, also skied second in the Super Final, behind Bilodeau.
“It was good for me to have this order, I could see Alex ski and he was going so fast he was like a runaway train and it just motivated me to ski hard,” said the Deux-Montagnes, Quebec native.
With the win, Kingsbury matched the American Jeremy Bloom’s 2005 record of most men’s mogul World Cup wins in a row, at six.
“Jeremy Bloom was my first ski idol,” said Kingsbury, “so it feels so good to win tonight.”
Olympic Champion Bilodeau, who has been on partial hiatus this year, competing only in select events, took second place tonight with a score of 25.60.
“With all the new things I’ve been working on in my training; trying to improve my turns and go even faster, I am not feeling 110 percent comfortable yet,” said Bilodeau. “So I was happy with my finals run where I nailed my turns and both my jumps. But, in the super final I made a couple of mistakes in the middle section and I had too much speed and was a bit out of control, but even with that I came second, so I’m happy with where I’m going,” said Bilodeau, who is currently focusing on his business school studies as much as his mogul skiing.
Vinjar Slatten of Norway was third at 25.05 and American Patrick Deneen was fourth at 23.82.
On the women’s side the night belonged to American Hannah Kearney, continued her moguls dominance with her 13th-straight World Cup with a score of 25.21, narrowly beating out teammate Heather McPhie, who came in second at 24.77.
"The pressure was on," said Kearney after the event, "I enjoyed it. It was nerves that I haven't felt in a while but in an absolutely positive way and I'm glad I was able to take the nerves and perform well and not take them and buckle under the pressure."
Australia’s Britney Cox scored her first FIS Freestyle podium in third place at 22.84 – it was Australia’s first women’s moguls podium in World Cup history. Although already a veteran of the 2010 Olympics, the 17 year old Cox was not expected to contend for a podium this year. However, at Deer Valley, the young Aussie produced a series of brilliant runs in front of the large crowd to finish the night on the podiim and push her FIS ranking to 14th in the world.
American Heidi Kloser, with a fall, rounded out the four-skier superfinal in fourth.
World Cup action continues here with an aerials event on Friday and dual moguls on Sunday, where Kingsbury will have a chance to create a record of most FIS Mogul World Cup wins in a row for a man.
FIS WORLD CUP MOGULS IN DEER VALLEY
FEBRUARY 2, 2012
MEN’S RESULTS
Available at: http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/604/610.html?sector=FS&raceid=6212
WOMEN’S RESULTS
Available at http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/604/610.html?sector=FS&raceid=6211
