VAL ST. COME, QC (Feb. 7, 2015) – Skiing on the home turf of the strong Canadian freestyle team, five American athletes finished in the top 10 at the FIS Freestyle World Cup in Val St. Come. American Hannah Kearney (Norwich, VT) took the win for the women and secured the World Cup leader yellow bib for the first time this season. Troy Murphy (Bethel, ME) was the top finisher for the U.S. men, finishing just off the podium in fourth.
After a tough competition in Lake Placid, the U.S. men and women came to Val St. Come ready to put up results. In a women’s super final stacked with Canadian competitors, Kearney and Keaton McCargo (Telluride, CO) led the charge for the U.S. Canada’s Justine Dufour-LaPointe was unable to put together a clean run in the round of 16, paving the way for Kearney to take the win and the yellow bib.
“I like the responsibility of carrying the yellow bib,” said Kearney. "I don’t mind having a target on my back. It gives me confidence. It’s a really nice award today for the three good runs that I skied and the yellow bib is just a perk of that.”
After a run in with an ice chunk in training, resulting in a cut on her face, McCargo powered through her three runs, finishing just off the podium in fourth. It was the highest finish of her World Cup career.
“I fell in training and cut my face. It was kind of awful, but I think it woke me up a little bit and I jumped way better,” said McCargo. “In finals I just skied my run and had fun.”
On the men’s side, Mikael Kingsbury of Canada won his fifth world cup in a row. But the win didn’t come easy. Troy Murphy and Bryon Wilson (Butte, MT) each skied strong runs in round of 16, with Murphy sitting in first going into the round of six. Murphy over rotated slightly on his cork 1080 in his super final run which bumped him down to fourth, resulting in his best career World Cup finish.
“I’m stoked with the skiing I put down,” said Murphy. “Each time I pushed out of the gate I was giving it 100 percent. Coming from my position, you have to ski super aggressively and qualify high to have a shot at the podium. Playing it safe isn’t really an option.”
Wilson, who suffered an injury at the January World Cup in Deer Valley, changed up his airs to land himself in fifth.
“After my injury, I was having trouble doing back fulls and lifting my arms above my head, so I had to change up my air skiing and do a cork seven back X,” said Wilson. “It worked out. I just worked on having a really clean, fast run and a little bit less degree of difficulty on the airs. Before the super final, I was going up the chairlift and decided to do a cork 10 up top that I haven’t done in a few months, but I had nothing to lose. I stuck it and ended up having a pretty decent run.”
The moguls World Cup tour takes a two-week break before teams travel to Tazawako, Japan at the end of February.
Women's Results
Men's Results
HIGHLIGHTS
- USA’s Hannah Kearney took the win and moved into the World Cup leader position at the Val St. Come World Cup on Canadian turf.
- Keaton McCargo had her best World Cup finish with a fourth place. K.C. Oakely (Piedmont, CA) was 13th, Ali Kariotis (Tiburon, CA) 15th, Mikaela Matthews (Frisco, C) 16th and Sophia Schwartz (Sun Valley, ID) 18th.
- Troy Murphy had his best World Cup result, finishing fourth. Bryon Wilson and Sho Kashima (S. Lake Tahoe) also finished in the top 10, in fifth and ninth respectively.
- Dylan Walcyzk (Rochester, NY) finished 15th, Jeremy Cota (Carrabasset Valley, ME) 18th.
- Kearney’s Run – Top Air: Layout, Bottom Air: 360
- Murphy’s Run – Top Air: Double Full, Bottom Air: Cork 1080
QUOTES
Hannah Kearney, First Place, Current World Cup Leader
I like the responsibility of carrying the yellow bib. I don’t mind having a target on my back. It gives me confidence. It’s also not anything to dwell on because you still have to ski, but it felt great. It represents a little bit of luck because if Justine would have gotten second, I wouldn’t have gotten the yellow bib back. But it’s a trade. I had a bad day at Deer Valley and then she had a poor day on her home soil and we just switched back. It’s a really nice award today for the three good runs that I skied and the yellow bib is just a perk of that.
Everyone sort of reevaluated after last week in Lake Placid. No one had the results they wanted there and sometimes you just need to refocus. Often times a poor result is the exact motivation that you need.
Keaton McCargo, Fourth Place
I fell in training and cut my face. It was kind of awful, but I think it woke me up a little bit and I jumped way better. In finals I just skied my run and had fun. It was really awesome.
We kind of wanted to take it to them [the Canadians] on this course, showing a lot of U.S. athlete style, and it was really fun.
Troy Murphy
I’m stoked with the skiing I put down. Each time I pushed out of the gate I was giving it 100 percent. Coming from my position, you have to ski super aggressively and qualify high to have a shot at the podium. Playing it safe isn’t really an option. I left nothing on the table and it paid off. I was in second place after qualifications and first after final one. In the super final I felt like I had another heater going until I over rotated my cork 10 just slightly on the bottom air, which bumped me off the podium into fourth. I was so close to my first podium I could taste it! Still, it was my best result to date and I hope to carry the momentum through the remainder of the season.
Bryon Wilson, Fifth Place
After my injury, I was having trouble doing back fulls and lifting my arms above my head, so I had to change up my air skiing and do a cork seven back X,” said Wilson. “It worked out. I just worked on having a really clean, fast run and a little bit less degree of difficulty on the airs. My first qualifying run was really solid. In finals I let it go a little bit more and probably skied about a second faster and snuck in at 6th. Before the super final, I was going up the chairlift and decided to do a cork 10 up top that I haven’t done in a few months, but I had nothing to lose. I stuck it and ended up having a pretty decent run.
All the guys were pretty bummed about our results in Lake Placid, and we knew we had to step up our game. We came out here and we skied much better with a little more fire and got the results.
