Mogul skiing competitions becoming a lot trickier

PARK CITY — U.S. Ski Team mogul skier Hannah Kearney swore she'd never be upside-down on skis.

"I never thought I'd be doing inverted tricks," said the Vermont native when she placed second at a World Cup at Deer Valley six weeks ago. "It's definitely pushed me this year."

She and others said they really had no choice if they wanted to stay at the top of a sport they love. The FIS began allowing inverted tricks in mogul skiing rather reluctantly. The movement began during the 2002 Winter Olympics, when 1998 gold medalist Jonny Moseley threw the first off-axis trick, which he referred to as "the dinner roll."

While the crowd was thrilled with the unusual move, the judges seemed stumped and gave him a wide range of scores for the trick. At the time, a skiers head could not go below his skis, and some attribute the lower scores to the fact that Moseley's head dipped just below his skis as he performed the 720-sideways spin.

The effect was huge. A year later the FIS allowed inverted and off-axis tricks off the two jumps required in World Cup mogul skiing, and instantly athletes began performing inverted tricks.

"It's definitely the direction the sport is going," said World Cup skier Margarita Marbler. "If you want to continue to compete, you have to be doing inverts."

Last year, some of the athletes were throwing inverted tricks, while others were sticking to more traditional jumps. But this year on the World Cup circuit, almost every athlete, men and women alike, are flipping and twisting upside-down on at least one jump.

"I never wanted to flip, but now I am," said Kearney.

Though she may have been a reluctant flipper, Kearney is proving to be one of the best and one of her coaches believes captured her first World Championship last weekend in Ruka, Finland.

Kearney and the other members of the U.S. Ski Team's Freestyle team will return to Utah this week to compete in the U.S. Freestyle Championships. The mogul competition will be held Thursday at the Sampson run at Park City Mountain Resort, and the Duals will be Saturday on the same run.

Aerials skiers will compete Friday at the Utah Olympic Park.

The skiers return to Utah after a very successful winter on the World Cup circuit. Colorado-native Jeremy Bloom captured the World Cup title, while Nate Roberts won the World Championship the same day Kearney captured the women's gold in Finland. Two next day, Bloom and Toby Dawson finished third and first respectively in the Dual World Championship.