PARK CITY, UT (Jan. 31) - In a night of tightly contested battles, David Babic (Washington, VT) and Hannah Kearney (Norwich, VT) skied to second in dual moguls in the Visa Freestyle International World Cup at Deer Valley Resort in Park City. It was Kearney's fourth straight podium finish and she retained the World Cup lead.

Canadian Olympic champ Jennifer Heil took the women's title over Kearney, while France's Guibaut won his third straight at Deer Valley.


Hannah Kearney celebrates her podium finish. (U.S. Ski Team - Tom Kelly)

Kearney Joins Consistency Club
In one of the toughest matchups of the evening, World Cup leader Kearney went up against Heil for the title. Kearney was first across the line and the crowd favorite, but the judges gave it to Heil. Kearney had a relatively easy time making finals. in the semis, Kearney beat World Cup rookie Eliza Outtrim (Steamboat Springs, CO). Outtrim was a pleasant surprise, qualifying third and skiing strong all the way to finish fourth.

Kearney had no hard feelings on finishing second to Heil and quickly pointed out the value of her having four straight podium finishes to lead the Cup. "I have not been a part of the consistency club, so it's nice to join," she said. "I feel like I've skied a mile of moguls. I did three training runs and five comp runs."

Kearney picked up the win in individual moguls Thursday with a strong run and a fall by Heil. Saturday night, they were head-to-head. "Heil is so good, so in a way it feels like you have nothing to lose," she said. "But tonight I felt like I had it. I'm proud of myself for skiing one of my best runs the last run of the day cause that's hard to do."

Her other toughest matchup came against her teammate Outtrim. "I don't like going up against my teammates," said Kearney. "I get more nervous for that than anything else. It's a strange dynamic cause we're a team and yet we're competing against each other. For that reason, it probably makes it harder. I watched Eliza and she skied phenomenally well, so that was another reason I was nervous."

"Hannah was super motivated this summer," said Freestyle Moguls Head Coach Scott Rawles. "She's been working really hard with Alex Moore our weight coach. She's been injured the last year and I think sometimes when that happens you get a little more motivated. This year she's really ready. She made the team when she was 16 and she's 23 now. She's matured and is putting it together."

Coaches were also impressed with Outtrim who had a career best in fourth. "She worked really hard this summer and really put it together tonight," added Rawles. "She's been on our radar for a long time and had some injuries and now she's back and strong."

Babic's Back
Babic, meanwhile, recorded a career best duals finish and first podium since he won the final moguls event of the season last year. The Vermont native had a rugged path to the finals, including a head-to-head with Jeremy Bloom (Littleton, CO) in the quarter finals. Bloom, who failed to qualify in individual moguls on Thursday, qualified third and survived a tangle with David DiGravio (Farmington, ME) in the opening round. DiGravio went off course and literally landed on top of Bloom.

Babic's fan club in the finish area helped cheer him on to his first podium of the year with strong performances in every matchup all evening long.


David Babic charges down the course. (U.S. Ski Team-Tom Kelly)

"All night I was trying to take one run at a time," he said. "It's always difficult to look too far ahead. The course is really difficult and you just try to do your best one step at a time – hit the top airs, ski through the bottom, but it was so hard that everyone was having trouble linking top to bottom again and again, but if you just hung in there and stayed with it, you had a good chance of winning tonight."

Deer Valley Impressive
Every year, Deer Valley continues to set the standard on the World Cup. And U.S. skiers continue to step up and perform. Over the course of four events for men and women, U.S. athletes were on the podium in every event and took three wins.


5,000 fans packed the Deer Valley Resort for dual moguls. (U.S. Ski Team-Tom Kelly)

"It was a great weekend overall. Deer Valley is by far the best venue- great crowds, great courses," said Rawles. "Hopefully we can take this momentum and keep rolling."

"In retrospect, it was a great week," said U.S. Ski Team President and CEO Bill Marolt. "This is the kind of performance that we want. We trained hard this summer and I'm proud of the coaches and really proud of the athletes – they're doing a great job competing."

It also presented its share of surprises. "Tonight, I saw some stuff I've never seen before," said Rawles. "I've never seen anyone get landed on before. When Jeremy landed on DiGravio, my heart just about stopped."

The FIS Freestyle World Cup now heads to Cyrpress Mountain, BC for the 2010 Olympic test events with aerials finals Friday night, ski cross Saturday and moguls Saturday evening.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
2009 FIS WORLD CUP
Visa Freestyle International
Park City, UT - Jan. 31, 2009
Dual Moguls

Men
1. Guilbaut Colas, France
2. David Babic, Washington, VT
3. Alexandr Smyshlyaev, Russia
4. Alexandre Bilodeau, Canada
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6. Jeremy Bloom, Littleton, CO
14. David DiGravio, Farmington, ME
15. Bryon Wilson, Butte, MT
22. Sho Kashima, S. Lake Tahoe, CA
25. Joe Discoe, Ridgway, CO
42. Michael Morse,Duxbury, MA
45. Pat Deneen, Cle Elum, WA
46. Landon Gardner, Missoula, MT

Women
1. Jennifer Heil, Canada
2. Hannah Kearney, Norwich, VT
3. Nikola Sudova, Czech Republic
4. Eliza Outtrim, Steamboat Springs, CO
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5. Shannon Bahrke, Tahoe City, CA
7. Shelly Robertson, Reno, NV
8. Emiko Torito, Denver
10. Jillian Vogtli, Ellicotville, NY
16. Heather McPhie, Park City, UT
20. Michelle Roark, Denver
26. Kayla Snyderman, Winchester, MA
# # #

For complete results, click here.