Wilmington, NY – Vermonter Hannah Kearney took the win Thursday at the USANA Freestyle Cup in Lake Placid, her first event back after a training injury in early October. Mikael Kingsbury of Canada won the men’s competition.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better first competition back,” said Kearney, the reigning World Cup moguls champion who was injured early October in a training crash in Zermatt, Switzerland, and was only recently cleared to compete. “My family and my best friend were here cheering me on. The support I’ve got here at Lake Placid made it a great day to redeem myself in my first competition back.”

Second place went to Nikola Sudova of the Czech Republic, with Australian Britteny Cox rounding out the women’s podium in third. Heather McPhie, of Bozeman, Mont., still holds the women’s World Cup lead and yellow bib after failing to qualify for finals. Kingsbury retains the men’s World Cup lead.

“I’m super stoked, it’s awesome,” said Kingsbury, of Deux-Montagnes, Quebec, said of his men’s win. Kingsbury qualified first for the super finals, which meant he got to ski last in the six-man round. “I like to go last because I can see everybody before me and I know what I have to do. I like being in the role of being the guy to beat, and today I was there,” said the 20-year-old. “Because I was watching and there were pretty high scores, I knew I had to do a pretty good run and I think I did it perfect with no mistakes.”

Pat Deneen of Cle Elum, Wash., also stood on the men’s podium after three solid runs landed him in second place. The breakout story of the day for the U.S. Ski Team, however, was rookie Dylan Walczyk, of Vail, Colo, who found himself in third in only his second World Cup start after his big air and tight turns caught the judges’ eyes. Walczyk got the call from his coaches less than a week ago that he would be competing in Lake Placid after a team member decided to sit out.

“I got the call to come to Lake Placid last Friday and made the decision to ski with the Team. It was an opportunity to prove myself after less than ideal results at selections,” said Walczyk. “I didn’t really have anything to lose so I just skied the way I know I can and it ended up being a really successful day.”

The moguls teams will take a quick break before athletes meet up for the Visa Freestyle International at Utah’s Deer Valley Resort Jan. 31 – Feb 2.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS Freestyle World Cup
USANA Freestyle Cup – Whiteface Mountain – Wilmington, NY – Jan. 17, 2013
Moguls

Women

Men