One of the biggest crowds ever seen at what is perennially the biggest stop of the FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup tour braved the Utah chill to witness what was one of the most entertaining dual moguls competitions in recent memory on Saturday night in Deer Valley. Sometimes chaotic and sometimes sublime, the 2016 edition of the Deer Valley World Cup once again lived up to its billing, and at the end of the night Justine Dufour-Lapointe (CAN) and Anthony Benna (FRA) closed out the Visa Freestyle International with dual moguls victories.
The preliminary duals were an occasionally crash-filled affair, as the lower-ranked athletes battled to earn their place in the final 16 at the biggest show in Freestyle. While there were some surprises coming through the opening duals heats, for the most part the hottest skiers so far in 2015/16 were able to hold it together and make their way through to the finals.
Ladies’ semifinals came down to one dual heat between the red-hot Yulia Galysheva (KAZ) vs. US World Cup points leader Mikaela Matthews, and the other featuring Justine Dufour-Lapointe (CAN) squared off against upstart US rookie Jaelin Kauf, guaranteeing the host squad at least one podium on the evening.
As it turned out, both Galysheva and Dufour-Lapointe would defeat their local counterparts to line up a US battle for bronze, while World Cup leader Dufour-Lapointe would have to face third-overall Galysheva in an effort to take her second win of the weekend.
In the small final, 19-year-old Kauf once again showed the poise, speed, and technique that very nearly saw her beat Dufour-Lapointe in the semi-finals, besting her more experienced teammate Matthews to claim the first World Cup podium of her career in just her fourth World Cup event.
In the big final, Dufour-Lapointe once again set about doing what she had done through both Deer Valley moguls competitions, skiing smoothly and cleanly through the lengthy Deer Valley course and nailing both her jumps. Dufour-Lapointe seemed unaffected by the speedy Galysheva by her side throughout the final run, coming through the finish line just ahead and earning a score of 22 to Galysheva’s 13 to make it two wins in a row.
“It’s the best thing I could have wished for,” a smiling Justine said from the finish area, “In Deer Valley you have to be so consistent, especially in the dual event. I wouldn’t say I was stressed, but it’s always tough to know you’re going to have to do five runs and always be awesome. So it’s a big challenge, but I’m so glad about the way I focused. I stayed in my zone, I didn’t get distracted by the person next to me, and I couldn’t have done better than this.”
Men’s competition saw a shocking result in the quarter finals when 21-year-old Finnish skier Jimi Salonen bested World Cup leader Mikael Kingsbury in a fiercely fought matchup.
While Kingsbury was able to reel Salonen in and beat him across the line after falling behind early in the course, the sacrifice Kingsbury in his final jump difficulty swayed the judges in Salonen’s favour, and the emerging leader of the Finnish squad would use that momentum to power his way to the big final.
After Kingsbury, Salonen dispatched Dmitriy Reiherd (KAZ), one of two Kazakhstani skiers to make it through to the semifinal heats. Unfortunately, Reiherd’s 19-year-old countryman Pavel Kolmakov would also lose in his semifinal matchup against Kreischberg 2015 moguls World Champion Anthony Benna, setting up an all-Kazakh small final and pitting Salonen against Benna in the last heat of the evening.
Though young Kolmakov would be bested by his more experience teammate Reiherd in the small final and would be forced to settle for fourth, that result combined with Reiherd and Galysheva’s podiums made for what was one of the most successful days ever for the small but talented Kazakhstani moguls team.
In the big final, things were over almost before they began, as Salonen let his skis run ragged straight out of the start gate.
While he was able to collect himself and ski a hard-charging run from the first jump through the rest of the course, Benna beside him made no mistakes at all, and when it was all said and done the Frenchman would take a resounding 21-14 win.
Benna’s win was just the second of his World Cup career, and from the finish area he was clearly emotional after his performance.
“I just won at Deer Valley. I remember six years ago when I saw Guilbaut Colas (FRA) on the top in Deer Valley, I just said, ‘I want to do that.’ And now I took first place here. I wanted to take some fun from today, I wanted to take some pleasure. I know I’m a little bit old,I’m 28 now, but today run after run I just wanted to ski more fast, to push my limit, and in the final I just decide I would only ski for this. I wouldn’t ski for second place, only this.”
Salonen’s podium was the first Finnish top three result at Deer Valley since the great Janne Lahtela scored a second-place result in 2006. With Lahtela there on Saturday night in Deer Valley in a coaching role to witness the event, Salonen scored not only the first podium of his career, but also took home a special award as the standout men’s skier of the weekend, based on Saturday’s second-place and Thursday’s fourth-place finish in the single moguls.
Justine Dufour-Lapointe was the obvious winner of the same award for the ladies, and with her win on Saturday she has now opened up a sizeable lead on the World Cup standings, with 408 points to her sister Chloe’s 318. On the men’s side, Kingsbury remains well out in front, with 425 points to nearest challenger Matt Graham’s 286.
Next stop on the FIS Freestyle moguls World Cup tour is in Tazawako, Japan, with moguls and dual moguls competitions coming up on February 27-28, 2016.
Hi-res photos from Saturday’s competiton
Source: fis-ski.com
