Are, Sweden – Americans Hannah Kearney and Patrick Deneen dueled their way to victory in Saturday’s FIS Freestyle dual moguls World Cup in Are.
U.S. skiers took four of the six podium positions, with Jeremy Cota, of Carrabassett Valley, Maine, second and Heather McPhie, of Bozeman, Mont., finishing third for her fourth podium finish of the season.
It was Kearney’s 11th World Cup win of the season, scoring back-to-back wins in Are after winning moguls on Friday. The Norwich, Vt. native qualified in first, giving her the choice of lanes for each dual.
“My qualifying run was very strong, with clean airs and about as fast as my finals run yesterday, so felt good going into the break. Since I qualified in first I knew which line I was skiing, which was advantageous since training was cancelled,” Kearney explained. “I skied four duals, all decent runs, with my last one being the most aggressive. I found the balance today of being on the edge and being in control. I charged the middle and executed my jumps the best I could.”
Dineen, of Cle Elum, Wash., earned his second victory of the year after beating teammates Bradley Wilson in the semifinal and Cota of the final.
“It feels really great to be back on top of the podium, especially since I didn’t have the results I wanted in singles. It’s great to nail five runs in a row super clean, just skiing super consistent,” Dineen said. “We had a super long day, between weather and some technical difficulties it turned into a long one. I just kept it going all the way through finals.”
Cota bested World Cup leader Mikael Kingsbury of Canada in the semifinals. Cota remains second in the moguls standings behind Kingsbury, who enjoyed a winning streek for much of the season, and Deneen is in third. On the women’s side, McPhie sits in fourth in the moguls World Cup standings but Kearney, who was nearly unbeatable this winter, has a solid lock on first place.
World Cup competition concludes in Megeve, France on Mar. 18 for the World Cup Finals.
“I am very confident going forward into the World Cup Finals in France,” said Kearney. “My goal there is to soak it all up, good food and hopefully a good course and a good result.”
OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS Freestyle World Cup
Are, Sweden – Mar. 10, 2012
Dual Moguls
Women:
| Rank | Bib | Name | Year | Nation | Points |
| 1 | 1 | KEARNEY Hannah | 1986 | USA | 1000.00 |
| 2 | 3 | SUDOVA Nikola | 1982 | CZE | 800.00 |
| 3 | 4 | MCPHIE Heather | 1984 | USA | 600.00 |
| 4 | 10 | ITO Miki | 1987 | JPN | 500.00 |
| 5 | 6 | ROBICHAUD Audrey | 1988 | CAN | 450.00 |
| 6 | 15 | RAKHIMOVA Regina | 1985 | RUS | 400.00 |
| 7 | 23 | MATTHEWS Mikaela | 1991 | USA | 360.00 |
| 8 | 5 | DUFOUR-LAPOINTE Chloe | 1991 | CAN | 320.00 |
| 9 | 2 | DUFOUR-LAPOINTE Justine | 1994 | CAN | 290.00 |
| 10 | 11 | STOLYAROVA Ekaterina | 1988 | RUS | 260.00 |
Men:
| Rank | Bib | Name | Year | Nation | Points |
| 1 | 3 | DENEEN Patrick | 1987 | USA | 1000.00 |
| 2 | 2 | COTA Jeremy | 1988 | USA | 800.00 |
| 3 | 1 | KINGSBURY Mikael | 1992 | CAN | 600.00 |
| 4 | 8 | WILSON Bradley | 1992 | USA | 500.00 |
| 5 | 14 | SPETT Per | 1985 | SWE | 450.00 |
| 6 | 35 | PENTTALA Jussi | 1993 | FIN | 400.00 |
| 7 | 15 | DISCOE Joseph | 1987 | USA | 360.00 |
| 8 | 5 | GAGNON Marc-Antoine | 1991 | CAN | 320.00 |
| 9 | 6 | VOLKOV Sergey | 1987 | RUS | 290.00 |
| 10 | 4 | MARQUIS Philippe | 1989 | CAN | 260.0 |