Toby Dawson wins World Cup moguls in American sweep

Toby Dawson wins World Cup moguls in American sweep{mosimage}MONT TREMBLANT, Quebec (Jan. 8) – Toby Dawson (Vail, CO) shook off the distraction of late luggage and missing equipment Saturday to win a World Cup moguls event, taking over the World Cup points lead as he led U.S. men to a sweep of the top four places. Hannah Kearney (Norwich, VT) had a podium of her own, finishing third.

“It was pretty epic with the guys – five in finals and then they go 1-2-3-4-6,” said Head Coach Jeff Wintersteen. “We hope to continue it through the rest of the season,” which ends with World Championships March 17-20 in Ruka, Finland.

Dawson, who qualified sixth, unloaded a heli-iron cross off the top jump and an off-axis, cork-7 (double rotation) off the bottom jump to score 25.50 points. Jeremy Bloom (Loveland, CO) was second with 25.34, Luke Westerlund (Breckenridge, CO) third at 25.29 and Olympic medalist Travis Mayer (Steamboat Springs, CO) fourth at 25.11. In addition, Nate Roberts (Park City, UT) finished sixth with 24.87.

Czech Nikola Sudova was the women’s winner with 25.39 points to 25.09 for Austrian Margarita Marbler. Kearney scored 24.40 with Jillian Vogtli (Ellicotville, NY) fourth, Laurel Shanley (Squaw Valley, CA) eighth and Emiko Torito (Denver) 10th.

“It’s a good way to start the new year,” said Dawson, who was seventh in the season opener in Tignes, France, before Christmas. He took over the World Cup lead in moguls with his victory; Mayer is second, Westerlund fourth and Bloom fifth after two events.

“The course was fairly easy,” Dawson said, “but there were some tricky spots. The snow for semis [qualifying] was slick and then we got to slip it in between runs, so it was smooth for finals.”

Dawson, who was fifth at Mont Tremblant in his first World Cup event in January 1999, said his luggage, including his skis and boots, didn’t arrive at this resort 90 minutes west of Montreal until Friday night, so he was had bought some clothing and borrowed equipment for training runs.

“I had everything I needed except my uniform, my skis, boots and everything else,” he said. “It was just unfortunate because it does become a distraction for all of us who didn’t get our luggage,” which was delayed when bad weather muddled flights earlier in the week.

He trained during the Christmas break, Dawson said, “to bring the focus back to my turns. Today, I was able to execute my turns.”

Tight men’s competition
Wintersteen said, “We got some help. Janne [Lahtela of Finland, the defending World Cup champion] and Marc-Andre [Moreau of Canada, who led the qualification round] screwed up in finals…but the bottom line is our guys stepped up and made it happen. It was all so tight…not a lot of room – Toby was four-tenths ahead of ‘T-Mayer’ in fourth place, so this is very satisfying.

“It was unseasonably warm. I don’t ever remember it being this warm at Tremblant, certainly much warmer than that sub-zero weather a year ago. And it’s almost surreal the way the guys are skiing. Marc-Andre ‘won’ semis but he bounced out on his top air, so it was nice to get the win. We got a lot of [top-3s] last year and won a fair share, and then to go to Tignes and get second and third just wasn’t the same.”

At the same time, he said, the women’s group “skied well, too, when you think of how we started this by losing [Olympic medalist Shannon] Bahrke [Tahoe City, CA] this week” with a knee injury in training. “Hannah skied well and she’s figuring things out, and Jillian is pulling it together. There are some good things happening with the women’s team,” he said.

The visit to Mont Tremblant concludes Sunday with aerials before everyone heads to Lake Placid, N.Y., for the Nature Valley Freestyle Cup Jan. 14-16 with two aerials events and a moguls contest.

WORLD CUP FREESTYLE
Mont Tremblant, QUE – Jan. 8, 2005
(12 make finals)
Men’s Moguls
1. Toby Dawson, Vail, Colo., 25.50 points
2. Jeremy Bloom, Loveland, Colo., 25.34
3. Luke Westerlund, Breckenridge, Colo., 25.29
4. Travis Mayer, Steamboat Springs, Colo., 25.11
5. Laurent Niol, France, 25.07
–
6. Nate Roberts, Park City, Utah, 24.87
37. David Babic, Washington, Vt.
44. Travis Cabral, South Lake Tahoe, Calif.
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Women’s Moguls
1. Nikola Sudova, Czech Republic, 25.39
2. Margarita Marbler, Austria, 25.09
3. Hannah Kearney, Norwich, Vt., 24.40
4. Jillian Vogtli, Ellicotville, N.Y., 23.89
5. Sandra Laoura, France, 22.97
–
8. Laurel Shanley, Squaw Valley, Calif., 21.83
10. Emiko Torito, Denver, Colo., 18.66
26. Michelle Roark, Denver, Colo.