Bilodeau Blasts to Victory at Deer Valley

PARK CITY, UT (Jan. 11) – Canadian skier Alex Bilodeau overtook teammate and World Cup leader Mikael Kingsbury for the victory Saturday in front of a crowd of 8,000 at the Visa Freestyle International FIS World Cup at Deer Valley. Alexandr Smyshlyaev of Russia took the third spot while crowd favorite Pat Deneen (Cle Elum, WA) finished fourth, the top finish for the USA. NBC will air coverage of Saturday night’s competition on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. EST. The moguls team heads to Lake Placid Jan. 15 for the USANA Freestyle Cup.

HIGHLIGHTS

• Canadian skier Alex Bilodeau overtook teammate and World Cup leader Mikael Kingsbury for the victory Saturday in front of a crowd of 8,500 at the Visa Freestyle International FIS World Cup at Deer Valley. Alexandr Smyshlyaev of Russia took the third spot.
• Crowd favorite Pat Deneen (Cle Elum, WA) put down an electrifying run but bobbled a bit in the landing and took fourth, the top finish for the USA.
• Deneen posted the fastest time of the day during finals on the long, steep Champion run, the 2002 Olympic venue.
• Sho Kashima (S. Lake Tahoe, CA) advanced to superfinal, but he lost control for just a second before the bottom air and finished sixth.
• The crowd grew to around 8,500 in the finish area during the finals, and the roar became louder as the snow began to fall during the men’s superfinal.
• The U.S. men have two more chances to seal their two required FIS World Cup podiums for Olympic team qualification.
• The moguls team heads to Lake Placid for the USANA Freestyle Cup Jan. 15 and then Val St. Come, QC Jan. 19 for the last remaining World Cups before Sochi.
• NBC will air coverage of Saturday night’s competition on Sunday at 1:00 p.m. EST.

QUOTES
Sho Kashima
There's a lot of fitness involved in competing in multiple World Cups in a week. We have a really tight schedule. Including tonight we have three events in a week. It's all about recovery and trying to stay on top of fitness. Hopefully I can bust out some tougher jumps next week and the week after that. With this course being so challenging I kind of struggled off the bottom air all week so I held back a little bit.  

RESULTS
Official Men’s Results

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