Inawashiro moguls: Begg-Smith tops in duals

Fog reduced a scheduled World Cup dual moguls contest Sunday to the lone qualifying run for men; no women got to compete. The top American was Jay Bowman-Kirigin in fourth place.
INAWASHIRO, Japan — Fog reduced a scheduled World Cup dual moguls contest Sunday to the lone qualifying run for men; no women got to compete. The top American was Jay Bowman-Kirigin in fourth place.
    "It was a very difficult day. The fog was in and out all day and we were on hold, on hold, on hold," said U.S. head coach Jeff Wintersteen. "The guys ran and we went on hold and that was it. Not a woman got down the hill."
    In duals, skiers take a qualifying run and the top 16 move into finals where No. 1 is paired against No. 16, No. 2 against No. 15; the field is cut to eight, then to four, then to the final two. Olympic and defending World Cup champion Dale Begg-Smith of Australia was declared the winner after leading the qualifying run with 25.11 points.
    The U.S. Ski Team would have three skiers in finals — Bowman-Kirigin, who gained his first World Cup top-three Saturday, finishing second in moguls, was fourth with Dave Babic 10th and Sho Kashima 16th.
    The next freestyle World Cup events, en route to the rescheduled FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships March 8-11 in Madonna di Campiglio, Italy, are next weekend at Apex Ski Area in Penticton, B.C., with skier halfpipe, moguls and aerials.

FREESTYLE WORLD CUP
Inawashiro, Japan – Feb. 18, 2007
Men's dual moguls
(Contest reduced to qualifying run)
1. Dale Begg-Smith, Australia, 25.11 points
2. Mikko Ronkainen, Finland, 24.91
3. Guilbaut Colas, France, 24.85
4. Jay Bowman-Kirigin, Salt Lake City, 24.74
5. Pierre Ochs, France, 24.59
–
10. Dave Babic, Washington, Vt., 23.52
16. Sho Kashima, Zephyr Cove, Nev., 22.98
28. Nate Roberts, Park City, Utah, 21.02
36. David Digravio, Farmington, Maine, 13.72
–
(Women did not get to compete)