Ruka, Finland – Montana’s Heather McPhie kicked the season off with a bang, winning the FIS Freestyle World Cup mogul skiing opener on Saturday in Ruka. Teammate Jeremy Cota, of Carrabassett Valley, Maine, took third for the men behind a pair of Canadians, winner Mikael Kingsbury and second place finisher Alex Bilodeau.

McPhie’s back-X and signature D-spin, paired with constant skiing kept her atop the leader board for much of the day.

“You put in so much work in the off season and you never know how its going to pan out. You just have to stay focused on yourself and your goals and that’s what I tried to do,” said McPhie. “I set the goal today to charge and just go for it. Sometimes I start my seasons off slow in the results category and with a stacked field like there is here, there’s no better way than to start off the season than with this win. I’m going to keep pushing myself and pushing the sport.”

The women’s podium was completed by Canadian Justine Dufour-Lapointe in second and Japan’s Aiko Uemura in third.

“Actually, it was pretty cool today because it was the first time that I got the highest technical scores in the turns technique in the qualification round,” said Dufour-Lapointe. “I worked on that all summer, so I have already achieved one goal.”

Kingsbury took the first men’s win of the season under cold and windy conditions in Finland. Out of his four duals to make it to the top of the podium, Kingsbury had to face three of his countrymen, including Cedric Rochon from St. Sauveur, Quebec and Marc-Antoine Gagnon from Terrebonne, Quebec. And while he was nervous about each of these runs, it was the final face-off against Alex Bilodeau, the reigning Olympic champion, that was the most nerve-wracking for the 20-year-old from Deux-Montagnes, Quebec.

“I knew there was a lot of pressure in my dual against Alex, I knew the media would talk quite a bit about this dual for a long time after it. So, I tried to relax and have fun at the top of the course and even though Alex is my teammate I tried to treat him the same way I would any other competitor,” said Kingsbury, who won the crystal globe last season while Bilodeau was on a hiatus. “I always seem to go against Canadians, so I have a lot of practice treating them like anybody else when I’m in the gate.”

And apparently it worked, “I had a great run against Alex, I didn’t make a mistake,” Kingsbury said, adding that winning the qualification round was a bonus as it meant he got to choose his course first for every dual, “I chose the same course every time, I knew it so well that I felt like I couldn’t miss.”

Cota, who was eliminated by Bilodeau, threw a back-full and  back-X to finish third.  And U.S. Ski Team moguls coach Garth Hager was pleased with Cota’s result, as well as his whole team. The U.S. ended with four women in the top 10 and three men in the top six.

“The athletes started off a little nervous. The first event is always a challenge to know how everyone is going to compete and how their off season training has paid off,” Hager said. “A clean slate might be an advantage but anything goes in the first event. The team as a whole had a really great start. To have four ladies in top 10 and three men in the top six is a tremendous start. We are all looking forward to carrying this momentum to the next event.”

World Cup moguls action continues next weekend in Kreischberg, Austria.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS Freestyle World Cup
Ruka, Finland – Dec. 15, 2012
Dual Moguls

Women

Men