World Cup skiers descend on Deer Valley

DEER VALLEY — On a difficult, icy course — the longest mogul skiers will see this season — three American skiers took three of the six available medals on the opening day of the FIS Freestyle World Cup.

Hannah Kearney of Norwich, Vt., and Michelle Roark of Denver, went 1-2 in the women's event, and Patrick Deneen of Cle Elum, Wash., finished third in the men's event. It was Kearney's second win of the season.

Winning the men's mogul event was Guilbaut Colas of France, winner of the gold medal in the last Olympics and current overall points leader in men's moguls this season.

On a day as close to ideal as ski days get, 51 men and 34 women from winter-sport countries around the world, came to Utah's Deer Valley to compete. Thirty-two — 16 women and 16 men — skied in the finals Thursday afternoon.

In the men's competition, the top three qualifiers finished in the top three spots. That wasn't the case in the women's finals.

Roark was the No. 8 qualifier and was the event leader until Kearney, who qualified No. 4, skied the bump-filled mogul course.

The remaining three women qualifiers struggled on their final run on a course called "tough, challenging, icy, steep ... and by far the longest course on the tour."

"I like the long course. It's a skier's course. Last year I had a bad crash, which is why I skied the course the way I did," said Roark.

Which was to pull off her most difficult of two jumps first — a 720 (degree) spin, which she hit, then bounced from mogul to mogul, bump to bump, smoothly and without a break in rhythm.

Kearney was simply a little smoother in the bumps, got a little more air on the two jumps and landed a little more gently. She also got points for being a full second faster down the course.

Skiers admitted that the two jumps on the steep course were "very, very difficult."

The first was early in the run and was on probably the steepest section of the course. The second was near the bottom at a time when skiers were winded and their legs started to ache.

"Both jumps were good for me, not perfect, nothing is perfect, but I hit them better than at any other time during the week," she said. "That's when you want to hit them.

"My (qualifying) run was conservative and I skied defensively, and when you ski defensively you generally make mistakes. I was tentative and not excited for my skiing. So the (final) run I just went for it. I had nothing to lose and I skied more aggressively."

Final score was Kearney 22.91, 21.72 for Roark and for third-place Margarita Marbler of Austria, it was 20.80.