Park City, UT – Olympic moguls skiing champion Hannah Kearney stretched her record World Cup win streak to 13 with a victory Thursday night in the Putnam Investments Moguls at the Visa Freestyle International at Deer Valley Resort in Utah. Kearney’s teammate Heather McPhie finished second with an impressive jumps package, while Canadian Mikael Kingsbury took the top spot for the men for his sixth consecutive win on the FIS Freestyle World Cup.

“The pressure was on. I enjoyed it. It was nerves that I haven’t felt in a while but in an absolutely positive way and I’m glad I was able to take the nerves and perform well and not take them and buckle under the pressure,” said Kearney, of Norwich, Vt. “It’s nice knowing you can ski no matter what – if you’re in first place, in second place, if it’s getting colder, if the moguls are getting deeper – that’s what builds confidence and therefore consistency.”

“This competition was so much fun. The crowds are amazing, the volunteers are amazing and the course is in such good condition,” added Bozeman, Mont.’s McPhie. “I’m having so much fun pushing the sport and doing that D-spin in every single run and getting experience all the time. I’m knocking on the door to beat Hannah one of these days soon.

Heidi Kloser, of Vail, Colo., was just off the podium in fourth behind Australia’s Britteny Cox. In fact, the U.S. Freestyle Ski Team had six women and four men in the finals with three women making into the four-skier superfinals.

“It was absolutely amazing having three out of four ladies in the super finals. It’s really been the first time we’ve been set up to have a sweep,” said U.S. Ski Team Freestyle Program Director, Todd Schirman. “It’s amazing to see all of our women stepping up on degree of difficulty and pushing the sport and having the results to show.

“The tight competition is a very good thing,” Schirman added. “It put a lot of pressure on Kearney and got her nerves rolling and that’s important for us to make her better and have those nerves. For Heather McPhie to be that person pushing Hannah is amazing and I’m really proud of them.”

On the men’s side, Kingsbury matched the FIS Freestyle record on the 2002 Olympic course with his sixth straight mogul win and a score of 25.90.

“I think that was my most satisfying win of my career,” said the 19-year-old, explaining, “In Deer Valley it’s like the Super Bowl of skiing. It’s a hard course, it’s a night event and there’s a huge crowd. I’m so stoked to win here.”

Kingsbury, who qualified second to his teammate Alex Bilodeau, also skied second in the Super Final, behind Bilodeau.

“It was good for me to have this order, I could see Alex ski and he was going so fast he was like a runaway train and it just motivated me to ski hard,” said the Deux-Montagnes, Quebec native.

With the win, Kingsbury matchedAmerican Jeremy Bloom’s 2005 record of most men’s mogul World Cup wins in a row, at six, and remains undefeated this World Cup season.

“Jeremy Bloom was my first ski idol,” said Kingsbury, “so it feels so good to win tonight.”

Olympic Champion Bilodeau, who has been on partial hiatus this year, competing only in select events, took the silver medal.

“With all the new things I’ve been working on in my training; trying to improve my turns and go even faster, I am not feeling 110 percent comfortable yet,” said Bilodeau. “So I was happy with my finals run where I nailed my turns and both my jumps. But, in the super final I made a couple of mistakes in the middle section and I had too much speed and was a bit out of control, but even with that I came second, so I’m happy with where I’m going,” said Bilodeau, who hails from Rosemere, Quebec and is currently focusing on his business school studies as much as his mogul skiing.

Vinjar Slatten of Norway was third at 25.05 and Patrick Deneen, of Cle Elum, Wash., was fourth at 23.82. Carrabassett Valley, Maine’s Jeremy Cota, who started the finals in first, broke his pole on the top air and finished 16th.

Aerials are on tap for Friday night with dual moguls Saturday night as the Visa Freestyle International continues at Deer Valley.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS Freestyle World Cup
Visa Freestyle International – Deer Valley Resort – Park City, UT – Feb. 2, 2012
Moguls

Women:

Men: