PARK CITY, UT (Feb. 4) – Olympic gold medalist Hannah Kearney (Norwich, VT) dueled her way through four rounds to take the top spot for the 14th consecutive time in Saturday’s Visa Freestyle International at Deer Valley Resort. Heather McPhie (Bozeman, MT) grabbed her second podium of the week coming in third. Russia’s Sergey Volkov was the men’s winner, stopping a would-be record breaking seventh win for Mikael Kingsbury of Canada. Kingsbury finished second. Jeremy Cota (Carrabassett Valley, ME) just missed the podium in fourth.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Hannah Kearney took her 14th win in a row and her first dual moguls win at Deer Valley Resort.
- Kearney's jump package included a layout and a heli.
- Heather McPhie took third for her second podium this weekend.
- This was McPhie's third podium throwing her D-spin.
- McPhie's jump package included a back cross on the top and D-spin on the bottom.
- Jeremy Cota was fourth to lead the men.
- Mikaela Matthews (Frisco, CO) took her first top 10, placing eighth, a career best.
- K.C. Oakley (Piedmont, CA) took seventh.
- The U.S. women took five of the top eight places in the event. Kearney, McPhie, Eliza Outtrim, K.C. Oakley and Mikaela Matthews.
- Russian Sergey Volkov put an end to Mikael Kingsbury's six win streak. A record previously held by U.S. Ski Team's Jeremy Bloom.
- The U.S. put four men and six women through to the qualification round.
- The U.S. took a total of five podiums this weekend.
QUOTES
Hannah Kearney
I have never won duals on this course in my career, today feels great!
Being the World Cup overall leader, there is nothing like it, you are literally on top of the world, it is a fantastic feeling.
I think that in duals, you often assume that whoever crossed the line first took it, but turns are still 50 percent. She (Heather McPhie) has been pushing me all year, we’ve been so tight in times. I pushed myself but still stayed clean and that’s what won it for me tonight.
Dual moguls can be more satisfying just because you have to ski more runs. Especially today, when everyone skied well against me and its just a long day when you have back-to-back competitions.
Heather McPhie
I really want to beat Hannah, so I like every experience I have to dual her and just keep getting better and faster against her. I'm a happy camper. It was a really good time out there tonight.
I am so tired! I decided to do conservation mode in qualifications and was happy to qualify fifth. I took five competition runs on the longest course in the world. My legs are tired and I want a day off but this crowd did it for me.
I feel like I'm finally skiing with that fire that I had that Olympic year. Last year I was still working on my new tricks and this year throwing that D-spin in every event, even duals, has been so exciting. This is my third podium ever with my D-spin so I'm so stoked.
Jeremy Cota
I started the day off skiing pretty well and a little bit later on I don’t know if I got tired or what but the skiing wasn’t going quite the way I wanted. I was happy with my performance.
Racing with someone right next to you pushes you. It's definitely an exciting feeling.
Todd Schirman, Freestyle Program Director
For Hannah to take 14 wins in a row is just outstanding. The depth is here, the leadership is here. Kearney is on fire.
There's more strategy involved in dual moguls. They have to ski four or five runs. It's a big day. You can see that everyone is exhausted and they did a really good job. Thanks to our strength coaches, we have the strongest athletes in the world.
The friendly fire of two teammates racing against each other is always tough, but it's about when the friendly fire happens - it pushes our athletes.
RESULTS
Official Results
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