NAEBA, JAPAN (FEB 18) - Hannah Kearney returned to the site of her first World Cup win in 2004 to take Saturday's moguls event for her FIS record 16th win in a row. Despite heavy snow that threatened to cancel the event and softened the course, Kearney was able to handily ward off the threat of a Canadian sweep as she beat out the resurgent Audrey Robichaud (2nd) and the sisters Dufour-Lapointe, Justine and Chloe, who finished in 3rd and 4th, respectively.
Even without a super finals in the weather-shortened event there was no questioning Kearney's dominance, as her winning score of 25.49 was a full 1.25 points better than runner-up Robichaud's 24.24.
"I really like the moguls here," Kearney said when asked about her success in Naeba, "They're deep and snowy and it was fun to ski. This was the site of the first World Cup I ever won. I even got to walk past the pay phone that I remember calling my parents on and waking them up in the middle of the night to tell them that I’d won."
All good things, however, must eventually come to an end. For Kearney and her streak, that end came the following day in the dual moguls event, as a couple critical mistakes found her falling from the top of the podium and out of the top three for the first time since January of 2011.
A mis-cue in her finals run against Audrey Robichaud of Canada led to her demotion to the 'small' pairing in the super finals. In that run, she broke a pole and was forced to conceed 3rd place to Miki Ito of Japan.
For Robichaud, Kearney's mistakes meant personal triumph. It was her first World Cup victory, and it came after a summer, fall, and early winter of rehabbing a compressed disc in her lower back. Robichaud actually missed the first two moguls events of the season due to her injury, but now has two podiums in just as many days and seems to be very much recovered.
After her 2nd-place finish on Saturday Robichaud said, "I've been working on getting my back stronger, getting used to impact for my back. Getting on the podium today is really big after the year I've had."
But if she was pleased on Saturday, come her victory on Sunday she was over the moon.
"I'm really, really, really happy right now. I seriously cannot believe it myself. Now I just want to keep my good rhythm. I'm feeling good about my skiing and my jumping and I'm really excited for the rest of the season."
Japan's Aiko Uemura was runner-up to Robichaud, completing a strong 2-3 showing for the event's host country.
KINGSBURY WINS SINGLES, DENEEN TAKES DUALS IN MEN'S ACTION
Canadian Mikael Kingsbury continued his remarkable season, winning Saturday's moguls event on the snowy Japanese course over American Jeremy Cota and Canadian teammate Cedric Rochon. Kingsbury skied strongly despite variable course conditions and mandatory line changes to fend off Cota, who also sits second to Kingsbury in the FIS moguls points race.
After the race, Kingsbury was happy with his win, but perhaps happier for his teammate Rochon's podium.
"This morning because there was a lot of fog in the course, and a lot of delays, it was hard to find good balance in training," he said, "But when I found it my skiing went well. I’m happy, but most of all I’m super stoked for Cedric for his first podium, I’m so happy for my roommate.”
The following day in the dual moguls event, however, Kingsbury was knocked from his perch at the top for only the second time this season by another American, Patrick Deneen. Deneen swept down the course to edge Kingsbury and gain his first victory since December of 2010. Deneen had been threatening this season, with a second place finish in January in Lake Placid and several top-10s leading up to the victory, and on Sunday was finally able to put it all together.
"I had a pretty good day," Deneen said, "It's good to get back on the podium. I was skiing well all day and just making stuff happen. I made my runs count.
"When I went against Kingsbury, I was really hoping to just ski top to bottom. He put me in a line that I hadn't skied in all week. Without training on that line I had no idea what to expect. I was looking to just get past the tricky parts and ski fast and get a win."
With the win, the understated skier was able to move himself into 3rd place in the moguls points race behind only countryman Jeremey Cota and the run-away leader Kingsbury.
Rounding out the top 4 of the all-North American duals super final were Philippe Marquis of Canada in 3rd and Bradley Watson of the USA in 4th.
MEN'S AND WOMEN'S RESULTS OF BOTH SINGLE AND DUAL MOGULS CAN BE FOUND HERE.
VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS CAN BE FOUND HERE.
