- SALT LAKE CITY: Hannah Kearney won her 13th straight moguls World Cup at Deer Valley Resort on Thursday.
- Kearney edged US teammate Heather McPhie after starting the super-finals format in second place.
In the men’s, undefeated 19-year-old Canadian Mikael Kingsbury claimed gold to tie the World Cup moguls record of six consecutive wins set by American Jeremy Bloom in 2005.
Kingsbury edged countryman Alexandre Bilodeau, the reigning Olympic champion, and Norway’s Vinjar Slatten took bronze.
“The pressure was on,” Kearney said of being in an unusual position — second place going into the last run.
“It was a sort of nerves I haven’t felt in a while, but in an absolutely positive way. I’m glad I was able to take the nerves and perform well and not take them and buckle under the pressure.”
She had just enough to win, scoring 25.21 points on her third run of the day to edge McPhie (24.77). Seventeen-year-old Cox (22.84) earned the first podium finish in a World Cup for an Aussie woman.
Cox said she felt “absolutely amazing.”
Kearney’s only loss at a venue since January 2011 came on the same Champion run at Deer Valley when she missed a grab at the world championships last February and had to settle for silver by four-hundredths of a second to Canada’s Jenn Heil.
Kingsbury was amazed to match Bloom
“It’s crazy because he was one of my idols when I was young and he was such a good skier and had great success,” Kingsbury said. “To be in the (same class with him) is awesome.”
Kingsbury scored 25.90 points to Bilodeau’s 25.60. Slatten earned 25.05.
“I was just trying to ski my best,” Kingsbury said. “The guys were pushing the limits; that made me push, too.”
He went after it, attempting a back double full on the top, and corked 1080 on the bottom jump.
“I did the two biggest jumps there are right now in the moguls and I landed them again,” Kingsbury said. “I had to do that to win, but no pressure. It is good pressure.”
Kingsbury is trying to follow in the steps of two Canadian greats.
Jean-Luc Brassard won gold for Canada at the 1984 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer, Norway, and Bilodeau repeated that feat on home soil at the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver.
Kingsbury has his sights set on Sochi, Russia, in 2014.
But even he finds it hard to comprehend that Kearney has won 13 straight now.
“That’s crazy,” Kingsbury said. “She’s dominating right now. You’ve got to ski your best every day, or one little mistake and you can go from first to five or 10.”

