Kearney wins again at Calgary World Cup, Bahrke third in aerials

American Hannah Kearny won her fifth consecutive World Cup individual moguls competition today (Jan. 29) in Calgary, AB as both aerialists and moguls skiers united for their final World Cup competition prior to next week’s Freestyle World Championships in Deer Valley, Utah.

Kearney, the reigning Olympic gold medalist, won the event in convincing fashion with a 1.72-point advantage on second-place finisher, Audrey Robichaud of Canada, who earned her second career podium with 22.71 points. Russia’s Ekaterina Stolyarova rounded out the podium in third with 22.59 points.

“The conditions were a little bit challenging,” said Kearney, of the cold and snowy day. “It kept changing as the snow accumulated. It caused the bumps to get really deep, which caused problems for some skiers.”

Kearney collected her 15 career World Cup victory to lead four American women into the top ten as Eliza Outtrim (fourth), Heather McPhie (sixth), and Heidi Kloser (8th) filled the top of the results sheet.

“I’m really happy right now,” said Kearney, who became a World Champion in 2005 and won a Worlds bronze medal in 2009. “I’m feeling very excited to head back to American soil. I think we are in a great position headed into World Championships.”

On the men’s side of the moguls contest, 18-year-old Canadian Mikael Kingsbury, in his sophomore World Cup season, earned his second career Cup victory and fifth podium with a score of 24.25. Just behind young Kingsbury was teammate and Olympic gold medalist Alexandre Bilodeau in second with 24.16 points. Russian Alexandr Smyshlyaev took the last podium spot in third.

Just a tenth of a point off the podium was Jeremy Cota to lead the U.S Team in fourth. Joe Discoe followed in sixth for his career World Cup high. Nate Roberts and David Degravio also made the top 15, finishing 10th and 12th, respectively.

“I have a good feeling where we are right now,” said U.S. moguls head coach Scott Rawles about his team going into the World Championships. “I think a lot of people are peaking with their skiing right now.”
 
Aerials

The aerialists also faced off in a World Cup competition today as China’s Cheng Shuang and local favorite, Canada’s Warren Shouldice took the wins.

Shouldice secured the men’s victory, his second career Cup win, with a score of 244.90 ahead of Switzerland’s Renato Ulrich (243.01) in second and American Scotty Bahrke (229.57), who grabbed his first career World Cup podium in third.

Bahrke’s previous best came in 2008 with a fifth-place finish in Moscow.

“I couldn’t be more stoked. I laid down a pretty good first jump and put myself in fifth position and ended up with a good second jump and my first podium ever. I couldn’t really believe it. I couldn’t be more happy right now,” said Bahrke, who landed a quad twisting triple and a double full full. “It felt really good to just land on my feet. I’m feeling great going into world’s, home town crowd, can’t wait to get out there. should be a blast.”

Cheng took the women’s crown with a score of 187.23 ahead of teammate Xu Mengtao in second with 186.65 points. Ukranians Olga Volkova and Olga Polyuk filled the top four in third and fourth, respectively.

Canadian Sabrina Guerin finished fifth ahead of top qualifier, American Emily Cook in sixth.

“I was a little bit disappointed about today’s result, but it was a great opportunity to learn and I was really excited about the week as a whole,” said Cook. “Calgary has been a really good opportunity to train the tricks and format that will be used in World Championships in Deer Valley. I increased my degree of difficulty in preparation for next week and got used to the classic format that is used there. Most importantly I had an opportunity to work out the kinks in double full full which I added back this week. I have quite a bit more confidence on all of my jumps, trained really well, and now am really looking forward to coming home and performing in Deer Valley next week.”

The U.S. Freestyle Ski Team will officially name its athletes for the FIS World Championships on Monday Jan. 31.

The World Championships hosted by Deer Valley Resort in Park City will run Feb. 2-5.

More to come.

Women’s Moguls Results

Men’s Moguls Results

Women’s Aerials Results

Men’s Aerials Results