Meribel, France – The U.S. Ski Team’s Hannah Kearney and Patrick Deneen kept the overall World Cup moguls lead Wednesday with strong second place finishes in Meribel. Teammate Bryon Wilson rounded out the men’s podium in third.nThis is the first time the U.S. has had two athletes in yellow at the same time since 2007 when Shannon Bahrke, of Tahoe City, Calif., and Park City, Utah’s Nate Roberts wore the yellow jersey together.
Deneen, of Cle Elum, Wash., was edged out by France’s Guilbaut Colas, earning his 10th World Cup victory, in the finals 18-17. Deneen was first accros the line but Colas had better air and turns to take the win.
“I went out there and gave it my all,” said an enthusiastic Deneen after his second straight podium. “I think it was a pretty good dual. I came up second.”
Wilson, of Butte, Mont., cruised through his side of the finals bracket reaching the semifinals, where he lost to Colas by the same margin as Deneen. Unfortunately for the U.S., Jeremy Cota (Carrabassett Valley, Maine), who qualified in fifth, was paired against teammate Deneen in the first round of the finals. The best Canadian result came from Alexandre Bilodeau in fifth.
On the womens side, Norwich, Vt.’s Kearney and Heather McPhie, of Bozeman, Mont., were the only Americans who qualified for the finals. Kearney dominated her opponents on her way to the championship round matchup.
“I qualified first, which was a nice way to continue my quality of skiing. Unfortunately, in the finals I went too large off the top air and blew out a little in the middle section,” explained Kearney. “Second place is nice, but it leaves room for improvement in China.”
Getting in the back seat off the top jump forced Kearney to make a few wider turns which allowed Yulia Galysheva of Kazakhstan to take the top spot.
McPhie lost to Jennifer Heil of Canada in the first round. Justine Dufor-Lapointe earned the top Canadian result in third.
Good news for the U.S. Freestyle Ski Team Wednesday also came from Sho Kashima from Lake Tahoe, who finished 20th. After a season ending injury last year, Kashima is recovering ahead of schedule.
“He’s doing great” says U.S. Moguls Coach Garth Hager. “He’s right in the mix, back to his old air plan and performing well.”
OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS Freestyle World Cup
Maribel, France – Dec. 15, 2010
Dual Moguls
Men
1. Guilbaut Colas, France
2. Patrick Deneen, Cle Elum, WA
3. Bryon Wilson, Butte, MT
4. Sergey Volkov, Russia
5. Alexandre Bilodeau, Canada
Women
1. Yulia Galysheva, Kazakhstan
2. Hannah Kearney, Norwich, VT
3. Justine Dufor-Lapointe, Canada
4. Ekaterina Stolyarova. Russia
5. Regina Rakhimova, Russia