Kearney 3rd in duals World Cup opener

By Published On: December 15th, 2014Comments Off on Kearney 3rd in duals World Cup opener
Hannah Kearney after competition in March 2014. GEPA

Hannah Kearney after a competition in March 2014. GEPA

RUKA, Finland – In the first dual moguls World Cup of the season, Olympic champion Hannah Kearney claimed her 64th World Cup podium with a third-place finish in Ruka. Kearney narrowly missed advancing to the final dual, getting edged out by Kazakhstan’s Yulia Galysheva.

“Today went well for our teams,” said head moguls coach Garth Hager. “We definitely trained better than we competed on this course, but dual moguls is always exciting and anything can happen.”

Kearney skied well all day, losing her semi-final dual by only one point. Kazakhstan’s Yulia Galysheva threw a front flip on the bottom jump, increasing her speed and propelling her over the finish line just in front of Kearney.

“Overall, I feel good about today,” said Kearney. “I’ll have to ski a little bit fast in my next semi-final run. Of course you always want to win, but after I lost that first dual, I instantly wanted to get back up in the start gate and ski again. That feeling confirms that I made the right decision to ski one more season.”

In just his second World Cup appearance, American Thomas Rowley skied to a strong fourth-place finish for the men. He was there because teammate Brad Wilson suffered a knee injury during training, so Rowley stepped up to the plate and made the trip over to Ruka just in time for training.

“I’m happy with my finish today,” said Rowley. “The course was a little rough and challenging towards the end. I had a good few days of training, so I felt good going into the competition.”

New Format
Recent duals competitions have seen athletes ski a solo ‘seeding run’ to determine their rank for the duals portion of the competition. This year’s Ruka event was a little different, with the athletes competing in head-to-head competition from the outset. Athletes were seeded according to their placing on last year’s moguls World Cup final rankings. They each then attempt to win their dual and advance through the bracket.

Kearney, Mikaela Matthews and Keaton McCargo advanced to the round of 16 for the women while Rowley, Dylan Walczyk and Jeremy Cota advanced to the round of 16 for the men. Kearney and Rowley then moved on to claim the top finishes for the U.S.

Looking Ahead
With the first World Cup of the season behind them, athletes will be heading home for the holidays or out to Winter Park, Colo., for U.S. Selections. World Cup action resumes after the New Year with the men and women’s moguls competition in Calgary on Jan. 4.

“Everyone is excited to be skiing again,” said Kearney. “We are all very motivated and can’t wait to ski at Calgary.”

Release courtesy of USSA

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