U.S. team's Jeremy Bloom gets first World Cup mogul win of the season

U.S. team’s Jeremy Bloom gets first World Cup mogul win of the season{mosimage}USSA — Jeremy Bloom overcame bitter cold Sunday to win the first World Cup moguls contest in the Czech Republic. Teammate Toby Dawson was third, his sixth consecutive podium. World Cup leader Jennifer Heil of Canada won the women’s contest with Hannah Kearney tops for the U.S. in fifth.

“I just went for it. I had a couple of seconds this season and a couple of thirds and I wanted a win,” Bloom said.

He clicked with two off-axis jumps — a D-spin grab off the top air and a D-spin iron cross of the bottom — and received 26.75 points. World Cup leader Janne Lahtela was second at 26.75 and Dawson took third (26.16).

“These podiums are nice. I’ve certainly never had a streak like this,” Dawson said. His two jumps were a heli-cross at the top and cork-720, an off-axis trick, at the bottom. “I wasn’t feeling confident while training 720s on the top jump. … The visibility was terrible and the wind was harsh.”

Also for the U.S., Travis Cabral was seventh, Dave Babic ninth and Nate Roberts 11th.

In the women’s contest, Heil protected her World Cup lead with three events remaining as she received 26.67 points and world champion Kari Traa of Norway was runner-up at 26.18. Kearney, who had won the previous moguls event in Naeba, Japan, received 25.39.

Four other U.S. women made finals. Emiko Torito was seventh, Laurel Shanley eighth, Michelle Roark 10th and Shelly Robertson 11th.

“This was a very tough day … it was cold, the course was very icy, very challenging … and that poor visibility definitely didn’t help,” said head coach Jeff Wintersteen.

The World Cup schedule continues March 6-7 with a first visit to Airolo, Switzerland, for moguls and dual moguls. World Cup Finals are March 10-14 in Sestriere, Italy.