Ladies moguls World Cup leader Hannah Kearney (USA) celebrated her birthday Saturday winning her sixth World Cup of the season in Marianske Lazne (CZE) beating rival Jennifer Heil of Canada.
With clear, cold skies, sugary snow and a crowd of several thousand, the stage was set in Marianske Lazne for a World Cup to remember. Saturday’s World Cup final was a showdown of giants. Kearney, who has been nearly unstoppable this World Cup season finally had the opportunity to face off against her friend and rival, the 2011 individual and dual moguls world champion, Jennifer Heil of Canada.
"I learned from my other duals this year and skied more aggressively," said Kearney. "It obviously paid off. It was really satisfying to win."
In the final run, Heil was the first across the line of the short and fast Czech course. Speed wasn’t everything, though, as Kearney’s run was cleaner and more technical. The judges rewarded her the win 19.16.
"The course was perfect for duals, because it was really, really short," explained Kearney. "That was the fastest time I have ever had on a course."
“I was in complete control for most of the run and was a little ahead of [Kearney], but I landed deeply on my second jump and that hurt me,” said Heil. “That’s a risk you take when you don’t hold back.”
It was an all-Canadian small final in the ladies' competition, with Chloé Dufour-Lapointe going against Audrey Robichaud. Dufour-Lapointe won the dual for the third place in front of the large crowd.
With her win Saturday, Kearney has firmly cemented her lead in both the overall and moguls World Cup standings. There are three moguls events remaining.
On the men’s side, in what is becoming the battle of the titans, Canadians Alex Bilodeau and Mikael Kingsbury went head-to-head in the finals of the dual mogul event. Bilodeau bested Kingsbury in the most exciting dual of the day by the narrowest of margins, an 18-17 vote by the judges.
For Bilodeau, it was the third win out of four dual mogul starts this season. “I feel great right now, I’m feeling the momentum and I’m in great shape.”Bilodeau added that his battle with teammate Kingsbury was the most exciting dual of the day. “This is a challenging course because, it’s short and while it starts out fairly steep, it quickly goes to about 10 degrees,” said Bilodeau. “It’s hard to gain time on such a short course and you have to keep your run really clean because any small mistake will cost you. With [Kingsbury] and me it was really tight because neither of us made any mistakes.”
For his part, Kingsbury, was philosophical, “[Bilodeau] got me again,” he said, “but I’ll get him next time.”
Jeremy Cota of the U.S. prevailed over Japan’s Nobuyuki Nishi to capture third. Cota is in the midst of what has been his best season with two World Cup podiums and three fourths.
With six wins, Kearney leads Heil 709-492 in the ladies' moguls standings with three events to go. She can clinch the title in Sweden in two weeks. The men's moguls World Cup leader Guilbaut Colas of France finished 5th in the Czech Republic but maintained his lead in the rankings, with 581 points over Kingsbury's 535.
The moguls World Cup is back in action 11-12th March in Are, Sweden with a moguls and dual moguls event, before wrapping up the season in Voss, Norway, site of the 2013 FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships.
