Deer Valley moguls: 9 U.S. women in finals

By Published On: January 14th, 2007Comments Off on Deer Valley moguls: 9 U.S. women in finals

Defending Olympic champions Dale Begg-Smith and Jennifer Heil sit atop the standings after the qualifying rounds at the Chevrolet Freestyle International men’s and women’s dual moguls competitions Saturday. 

DEER VALLEY, Utah — Defending Olympic champions Dale Begg-Smith and Jennifer Heil sit atop the standings after the qualifying rounds at the Chevrolet Freestyle International men’s and women’s dual moguls competitions Saturday.  
    Having made a career out of her smooth turning style, Heil scored the highest points for turns in the field and ran into no trouble with her airs. The Canadian’s score of 25.36 was just over a point ahead of Canadian Kristi Richards. The Czech Republic’s Nikola Sudova qualified third.
    Of the remaining 13 women to qualify for finals, a remarkable nine were American. Shannon Bahrke, Thursday’s winner in singles, and Hannah Kearney led the Americans in fourth and fifth, while Michelle Roark qualified in sixth, McKenzy Golding in ninth and Jillian Vogtli in 10th. Shelly Robertson (11th), Kayla Snyderman (12th), Heather McPhie (15th) and Emiko Torito (16th) also will be competing under the light in finals.
    Begg-Smith, from Australia, was typically smooth, never bobbling on a course that challenged many of the best moguls skiers in the world. Hot on Begg-Smith’s heals was Thursday’s winner, American Nate Roberts. “Once again the pressure of the first run is out of the way here in my hometown,” said a pleased Roberts. “Now I can go and get ready for tonight, let it run and have fun.”
    American David Babic qualified in third and teammate David DiGravio was seventh.
    Skiers qualify for the night’s dual event during the day by skiing the run alone, just as in a single moguls competition. The skiers with the top 16 scores are placed into a seeded bracket, with the skier qualifying first matched up against the skier who qualified 16th, and so on. The women’s finals begin at 6 p.m. MT.

— Sam Flickinger contributed to this report

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About the Author: Pete Rugh