FREESTYLE SKIING: Australian moguls skier Britt Cox backed up her podium finish 24 hours earlier with a fighting fifth place in the duals event at the FIS Ski and Snowboard World Championships in Kreischberg, Austria.
The other half of Australia’s moguls pair, Matt Graham, delivered a solid top 10 finish.
The results over the last two days, which included a bronze medal for Cox in the singles event, enabled the Aussie moguls contingent to leave Kreischberg knowing that their World Championships campaign was a definite success.
Although Cox was not able to make it to the podium again today, she once more displayed how she is benefiting from her renowned off-season work ethic by qualifying for the finals in seventh place and winning her first round convincingly against Canadian Andi Naude before coming up against Canada’s eventual silver medallist Justine Dufour-Lapointe in a quarter final.
In the final, Dufour-Lapointe was unable to match the strength of American Hannah Kearney, who captured the duals gold medal and turned the tables on her Canadian rival’s win in the singles event.
Today’s bronze went to Kazakhstan’s Yulia Galysheva who defeated fourth placed Canadian Chloe Dufour-Lapointe in the consolation final.
Graham also qualified for the finals in eighth place but was unable to out point former World Champion Patrick Deneen from the United States in the round of 16.
Graham skied strongly against Deneen, known as the fastest moguls skier on the tour, and was unlucky to be narrowly out pointed by the American in one of the many close battles of the day.
One of the most pleasing aspects of Graham’s finals run was his undeniable speed, and in fact the Australian crossed the line fractionally faster than the American “speed machine”.
The battle for the men’s medals was an all-Canadian affair with the title going to Mikael Kingsbury, Philippe Marquis picked up the silver and the bronze went to Marc-Antoine Gagnon.
Olympic Winter Institute of Australia CEO Geoff Lipshut praised both Cox and Graham for their significant steps forward during the Championships.
“Both Britt and Matt have shown that the work we have been doing with these two young athletes is right on track,” Lipshut said.
“They are both emerging as world class talents and the future of Australian mogul skiing is looking very positive.”
Australia’s representative in the snowboard slopestyle event, Michaela Davis-Meehan, finished in equal 11th place in the qualification session and just missed one of the 10-spots going through to the finals.
Australia’s World Championship campaign now switches to the slopestyle sking qualification session with hopes pinned on Russ Henshaw, the 2011 World Championships bronze medallist, and Samuel Ruttiman.
Results
Women’s dual mogul skiing, World Championships, Kreischberg, Austria
1. Hannah Kearney (USA), 2. Justine Dufour-Lapointe (CAN), 3. Yulia Galysheva (KAZ), 4. Chloe Dufour-Lapointe (CAN), 5. Britt Cox (AUS), 6. Perrine Laffont (FRA).
Men’s dual mogul skiing, World Championships, Kreischberg, Austria
1. Mikael Kingsbury (CAN), 2. Philippe Marquis (CAN), 3. Marc-Antoine Gagnon (CAN), 4. Sho Kashima (USA), 5. Dmitriy Reiherd (KAZ), 6. Thomas Rowley (USA), 10 Matt Graham (AUS).
