Meribel, France –Olympic gold medalist and defending FIS Freestyle World Cup champion Hannah Kearney secured her point lead on Tuesday after a strong dual moguls win in Meribel – her ninth straight since last season – as three Americans stood atop the podium. Heather McPhie was third as was Sho Kashima, who rounded out the podium for the second event in a row behind Canada’s Michael Kingsbury of Canada who took the men’s win and maintains his World Cup point lead.

Athletes endured near blizzard conditions under the lights during nighttime finals after training in clear conditions all week. It was the second win of the season and the 21st of her career for Kearney, who now heads home to Vermont for the holiday break.

“This is a great way to head home for the holidays from Europe. I won the qualifying run so I had some good confidence going into the competition,” said Kearney. “It was snowing really heavily on the course, I tried to ski as fast as I could off the top air, do a heli on the bottom and just go as fast as I could to beat people to the bottom of the jump where the judges could see us.”

McPhie, of Bozeman, Mont., took her first podium of the season with third behind 17-year-old Justine Dufour-Lapointe of Canada.

“I’m incredibly happy with my results today, even more so because it was my first time competing a D-spin in duals and the first time that I was able to podium with it,” said McPhie. “All the snow made for a soft course, which I actually really love. Vision wasn’t a problem on the course, even if it was for the spectators. Competing under the lights made it really easy for us.

Dufour-Lapointe had to dual her sister Chloé in the first round. She then defeated Arisa Murato of Japan and McPhie losing to Kearney by a 21 to 14 decision in the final.

“ I think Meribel is a lucky place for me, I won my first world cup medal here last year. Duals is my favorite event and I have good scores with duals. I think it’s because I like to fight so it’s in my vibe,” said Dufour-Lapointe. “I was really happy that I pushed all I could and I didn’t crash. I’m really proud that I could push it like that and stay in control. I can’t wait to come back home and ski at Gabriel (Quebec), I think I’ll be even more confident there.”

The men’s contest belonged to Mikael Kingsbury of Deux Montagnes, Quebec, who retained his crown and the FIS Freestyle leader’s yellow bib. The 19-year-old qualified first to make it in to the round of 16. There, he bested teammate Marc-Antoine Gagnon of Terrebonne, Que. and Denis Dolgodvorov of Russia before meeting up with Kashima in the semi-finals. The dual with Kashima was a nail-biter as the American beat Kingsbury across the line, but the Canadian’s textbook turns and legendary air advanced him to the finals in an 18 to 17 decision by the judges.  Kashima, of South Lake Tahoe, Calif., was nonetheless pleased with his results as he defeated teammate Patrick Deneen for the bronze medal in the small final.

“If you would have told me that I would have two good results before Christmas I would have thought you were crazy,” he said. “It’s pretty great what being healthy will do for you along with good off season training. It just translates into good results. I’m going to head over to Quebec a little early to get some good training there.”

In the final round, Kingsbury beat hometown favorite, France’s Anthony Benna, to take the gold in a 20 to 15 decision.

“It was a perfect day with the snow, it was icy yesterday, but it snowed all day today so it was great for the finals,” said Kingsbury. “In my training my skiing was pretty and I was focused on not making make mistakes, I just made training like competition and took one dual at a time. In the final I felt like the Boston Bruins when they come to Montreal! All the French were cheering for Anthony Benna, but I like not being the favorite, so it was fun for me.”

As alluded to by both Dufour-Lapointe and Kashima, the next stop for the moguls World Cup is the Canada Post Grand Prix at Ski Mont Gabriel in Quebec Jan. 14-15.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup
Meribel, France – Dec. 20, 2011
Dual Moguls

Women:

Men: