It was a bluebird day on Thursday, and Deer Valley put on its usual excellent show. The opening day of the event featured moguls, with a bump course that was slightly in the shadows, and so remained firm, even icy, as the rest of the mountain was bathed in warm sunlight.It was a good day for the American women. U. S. mogul skier Hannah Kearney won, solidifying her number one world ranking. Teammate Michelle Roark was second. Only the top 16 women made the finals, and seven of those were Americans, including Shannon Bahrke and Sandy's home town hero, Kayla Snyderman.
It wasn't so wonderful for the American men. Patrick Deneen was the top U. S. skier in third place, the next American was David Digravio, who was tenth. Guilbaut Colas of France was the men's winner.
The Deer Valley course is the longest and one of the most difficult mogul courses in the world. Skiers come out of the start, and after a few turns through the bumps, come to the first jumps, where they do a spin, back flip or other trick. Then there's a long field of more big moguls, where their legs pump so fast they are a blur, then another jump near the bottom of the course.
The skiers are judged on the difficulty of their jump tricks, the quality of their skiing and their jumps, and their time. One athlete may do an ordinary trick and still win because they were faster than the rest of the field.Kayla Snyderman showed how far mogul comps have come, when she barely qualified for the finals despite doing a back flip iron cross for one of her jump tricks. She said, "That's a pretty standard trick for the women." Yet just a few years ago, a back flip iron cross was considered incredible for the men, and one American man won an Olympic gold for doing it.
French skier Alizee Boulangeat (shown above), considered a favorite, caused a crowd moan when she got off balance in the air and belly-smacked onto the snow.
The event continues for the next two days, with aerial qualifications starting at 1:00 p.m. and aerial finals starting at 6:30. The new addition this year is a halfpipe contest in the Olympic halfpipe at Park City Mountain Resort on Saturday, Jan. 31. Qualifications in halfpipe begin at 9:30 a.m., with finals starting at 12:30. Saturday will also have the dual moguls event, and there will be fireworks at the end of each day of competition. Admission is free.
