Canadians take wins, but US has strong showing in Lake Placid

By Published On: January 16th, 2014Comments Off on Canadians take wins, but US has strong showing in Lake Placid
Heidi Kloser skied to a career-best result of second in Lake Placid. (USSA)

Heidi Kloser skied to a career-best result of second in Lake Placid. (USSA)

Although the competition ended with a pair of Canadians standing atop the podium, it was still a big day for the U.S. squad on home soil at the Lake Placid World Cup moguls event at Whiteface Mountain on Wednesday.

Taking two out of four podium spots – and three of the top four spots on both the men’s and the ladies’ sides – the U.S. team managed to lock down one guaranteed Olympic spot, for Patrick Deneen. There was also career-best result for the Americans with Vail’s Heidi Kloser’s 2nd place finish, certainly helping her odds for a start in Sochi.

The winner of the ladies’ event was Canada’s Justine Dufour-Lapointe, who rebounded from a mediocre qualifying score to lay down strong runs in the finals and superfinals and record her second win of the season.

Kloser took second with a smooth run that included a solid 720 “d-spin” off the bottom jump, while third place went to Hannah Kearney, who skied out of her line just after the first air bump, slowing her time and cutting into her turning score.

“I was a little out of control on my first finals run, going really fast but then when I was able to get it under control I knew I could push it for my next run,” said Kloser. “I’m really happy with this result and it feels good to be on the podium.”

Despite her third-place finish, Kearney retains the yellow jersey heading into Sunday’s World Cup at Val Saint-Come, with an 84 point lead over Dufour-Lapointe as we near the midpoint of the season.

In the men’s event, the seemingly invincible Mikael Kingsbury was reduced to a footnote on the day, as his teammate Alex Bilodeau claimed his second straight moguls victory despite a serious challenge from Deneen.

Deneen bested Bilodeau in both time and turning scores, but the Canadian’s untouchable jump combination of a back double full off the top and an off-axis 1080 on the bottom jump were enough for him to eke out a win by three-tenths of a point.

“I’m really happy about how today went,” said Deneen. “Any day you can stand atop the podium with a teammate is a great day. Also having Bryon in fourth place was a nice way to finish. We were skiing really well today. It feels really great knowing that I’ve clinched my Olympic nomination, which makes things a lot easier for me looking towards the last event.”

Third place went to Bradley Wilson, who bested his brother Bryon by a mere two-hundredths of a point to record his first podium of the 2013-14 season.

The moguls World Cup tour now moves north to Val Saint-Come, Canada for the last FIS Freestyle event of the 2014 Olympic qualification period. From there, it will be “next stop – Sochi.”

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