By Andrew Mitchell
It was a packed weekend at Deer Valley, Utah Jan. 11-14 with
the resort hosting night moguls, dual moguls and aerials events, including an
aerials event that was moved from Lake Placid due to the lack of snow in the
east.
The World Cup got underway on Thursday, Jan. 11 with a moguls
competition. After crashing the previous week, Olympic and World Cup champion
Jennifer Heil found herself back on the podium, wedged between U.S. skiers
Shannon Bahrke and Hannah Kearney.
“I was really happy to bounce back with a medal after an 11
th
place last weekend,” said Heil. “It feels like the season has really started
now. However, I still felt I could have been a bit more aggressive, but overall
it was a solid performance and now I need to build on that.”
Canadians figured prominently in the top-20, with Kristi
Richards of Summerland 10
th
, Stephanie-St-Pierre of Quebec 11
th
,
Whistler’s Sylvia Kerfoot 14
th
, Audrey Robichaud of Quebec 16
th
and Jacqui Brown of Ontario 18
th
.
In the men’s competition, American skiers once again finished
first and third with Nate Roberts taking gold and David Babic the bronze.
Gergoire Dufosse of France came away with the silver.
The top Canadian was Ontario’s Warren Tanner in seventh place,
while Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau of Quebec placed 12
th
. Maxime
Gingras of Quebec was 14
th
, and Chris Wong of Prince George 17
th
.
An aerials competition also took place under the lights.
Ontario’s Steve Omischl retained the overall leaders bib with a silver medal
performance behind Jeret Peterson of the U.S., who posted the highest score
ever posted in a World Cup. Sen Qiu of China took the bronze.
Omischl landed a full, full, double, full, which includes a
double twist on the third flip.
“It’s the jump I messed up at the Olympics and this is the
first time I’ve landed it in competition,” said Omischl. “So overall I’m
actually one for five with that jump. I’ve been training that jump the last few
weeks and this week I landed my five attempts in training. So overall I did
what I needed to do today and simply got beat by someone who put down a way
harder trick.”
Kyle Nissen of Calgary finished just off the podium in fourth
place, while Alberta’s Cord Spero placed seventh.
Jacqui Cooper of Australia picked up her second gold medal of
the season in the women’s competition, followed by Nina Li of China and Alla
Tsuper of Belarus. The top Canadian was Veronika Bauer of Ontario, who placed
10
th
.
In the second aerials competition the following day the
Canadians failed to win a medal, with Omischle placing seventh and Bauer sixth.
Jeret Peterson took gold once again, taking the leaders bib. Anton Kushnir of
Belarus placed second, while Stanislav Karvchuk of the Ukraine picked up the
bronze.
Evelyne Leu of Switzerland won the women’s event, followed by
Nina Li and Xinxin Gou of China.
The final event of the weekend was the dual moguls, where
Summerland’s Kristi Richards captured the first gold medal of her career to
lead the team’s four-medal effort.
To get the gold Richards had to beat her teammate Jennifer Heil
in the finals.
“I was just so proud to be in the final against Jenn and to
come out on top is just a bonus,” she said. “I knew I was going to have to ski
really fast in the final. I charged out of the gate and had no idea what Jenn
was doing, I was so concentrated on my run. I was consistent and fast all day.
This new technique I’m using is really pulling through for me.”
Heil’s own run went wrong after the first jump when she hit the
booter off balance and skied off course.
“It’s a tough course and I was pushing the limits,” said Heil.
“And up until my last run I felt I was skiing better than ever before. To be on
the podium with Kristi for her first victory is really an exciting night for
us.
Hannah Kearney of the U.S. was third, while Stephanie
St.-Pierre placed ninth and Sylvia Kerfoot 14
th
.
For the men, Vincent Marquis and Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau took
the silver and bronze behind Guilbaut Colas of France.
Marquis, who is only in his second year with the national team,
gave all the credit to the French skier.
“Guilbaut simply had a great run in the final, and he was
particularly fast in the middle of the course and I wasn’t able to keep pace.”
Rousseau, who has spent the last two seasons recovering from a
neck injury, is showing improvement from week to week.
“I’m having a strong season so far and I feel I’m coming back
to the form I had a few seasons ago,” he said.
Alex Bilodeau of Quebec was seventh, Warren Tanner of Ontario was 12 th and Jean-Francois Therrien of Quebec placed 18 th .
