Switzerland’s Michael Schmid (fifth in Alpe d’Huez) took the lead in the
ski cross overall men’s World Cup standings with 340 points. Kuhn (eighth
at Alpe d’Huez) was in second with 257 points, followed by Norway’s Audun
Groenvold (seventh in Alpe d’Huez) in third with 216 points.
For the women, it was a nearly all-Canadian podium as Serwa defeated David in second. Canadians McIvor and Murray finished 3-4. Another Canadian,
Aleisha Cline, finished sixth, giving the team four top- 10 finishes on the day.
“It felt pretty cool to stand on the top of the podium, for sure,” said Serwa.
“It’s unfortunate that we didn’t get to race the heats, but I picked a great day
to win the qualification round so that’s pretty cool.”
Ciccone led all Americans with a career-high 21st-place finish.
David is off to a bit of a slow start this season, at least to her high standards.
She finished second only twice last season. She won the remaining six events.
But David was still leading in the ski cross overall World Cup standings, 63
points ahead of McIvor in second and 117 points ahead of Murray in third.
Moguls
Calgary, Alberta, Jan. 8-9
Defending moguls gold medalists Jennifer Heil of Canada and Dale Begg-Smith of Australia owned the Calgary bumps, each taking both night events
as the moguls World Cup season rolled through the third and fourth competitions of the season.
The wins marked Heil’s 22nd and 23rd World Cup victories and gave the
local crowd plenty to cheer about. The previous weekend, Heil had been
honored with a street named after her in her hometown of Spruce Grove,
Alberta.
“I was so excited to be out here in my home province, with all my friends and
family here,” Heil told the Associated Press. “The site’s beautiful. It’s such an
honor to be able to showcase the sport to Albertans.”
The first event’s podium saw the Czech Republic’s Nikola Sudova in second
in the women’s event, ahead of 34-year-old Austrain Margarita Marbler in
third.
On Day 2, defending world champion Aiko Uemura of Japan took second
ahead of Sudova, again on the podium in third.
U.S. C-Team member Heather McPhie led the American women both days
with a pair of fourth-place finishes, tying her career high.
“McPhie skied great,” said U.S. Ski Team freestyle head coach Jeff Winter-steen, who perhaps had a vision of things to come. “She’s had a couple fourths
before, but in the Olympic year it’s really good for her to get that result.”
Teammates Shelly Robertson (eighth and fifth), Shannon Bahrke (seventh
and sixth) and Emiko Torito (with one fifth-place finish) grabbed top- 10 finishes in Calgary as the fight continued for coveted spots on the Vancouver
Olympic team.
Last season’s World Cup champion, American Hannah Kearney, struggled
in Calgary with 11th and 36th-place finishes. She had finished outside the top
10 in a World Cup competition only twice since 2006. But Kearney already
secured her Olympic berth, winning the Olympic Trials Dec. 23.
For the men, Canadian Vincent Marquis took second for his eighth career
World Cup podium on day one. Russia’s Alexandr Smyshlyaev took third,
climbing on his second career World Cup podium. Michael Morse (6th) and
Sho Kashima (7th) led the U.S. Team, while teammate David Babic grabbed
the final top- 10 spot.
Canadian Alexandre Bilodeau replaced his teammate in the second spot on
Day 2 as Smyshlyaev repeated his result in third place.
World champion and Olympic Trials winner Patrick Deneen bounced back
from his 50th-place finish of Day 1 to lead the American men in ninth. Teammates Kashima (11th) and Morse (18th) also grabbed their second top- 20
finishes in two days.
Before competition began in Deer Valley, the U.S. Ski Team reloaded the
freestyle team with three additional young talents in Heidi Kloser, Ashley
Caldwell and Nevin Brown. The trio had landed on the C Team after making
the grade at the U.S. Freestyle Selection events in December in Park City. Both
Caldwell and Brown won Selections for aerials just days before each went on
to compete in the U.S. Olympic Trials in Steamboat Springs, Colo. Ski and
Snowboard Club Vail’s Kloser qualified for the U.S. Ski Team when she finished second at Selections in Winter Park.
Deer Valley, Jan 14-16
Injuries were the story for the moguls skiers upon arrival in Deer Valley.
Before the initial final round of competition on the Champion slope, six
moguls skiers had injured their knees during training or qualifying runs on
the 2002 Olympic course. Kashima was among the casualties. (See page 9
At 19, Qi Guangpu grabs his econd World Cup podium.
GEPA (2)
Anton Kushnir is pumped
after winning at the Visa
Freestyle International.
