Giaccio and Kingsbury win Deer Valley World Cup moguls event

Olivia Giaccio of the United States and Mikael Kingsbury of Canada won their respective Deer Valley World Cup moguls events Thursday night. Overcoming what Garrett Lang, Deer Valley’s mountain operations manager, comically described as “mixed precipitation,” the pair scored 75.42 and 82.17 points, respectively, in the surface round to win the uniquely designed trophy. I got it.

The win was Giaccio’s second in his relatively young career, and gave Kingsbury a record 87 Cup wins, the most in any event for men or women. Other notable performances included Parkite Nick Page, who finished fifth, just shy of the men’s podium, and the entire U.S. women’s team, which made up five of the six participants in the super final round.

Amazingly, Kingsbury said he wasn’t thinking about the record-setting finish line in front of him as he descended Deer Valley’s enhanced Champions Run under bright lights. . He was confident he had a great final run, but he said he was in the moment.

“When I saw No. 1, I realized, ‘Oh, I just shot an 87,'” Kingsbury said. “When I was a kid, I remember looking at FIS history books on the internet and thinking that 86 wins was a ridiculous amount of money and not something that any athlete could achieve…just to get it done was enough. It’s unbelievable.”

Despite having a record number of wins and being a 31-year-old veteran, Kingsbury has no intention of getting complacent all season long. He is currently in his 1st place in the FIS Dual Moguls ranking, which also places him in 1st place in the overall ranking, and he wants to continue competing in the sport he loves and continue producing results like that. .

Giaccio was equally excited after winning, becoming the record-setter by completing the first 1080 trick in a women’s moguls competition. Like many of her teammates, she had her family and friends in the crowd, showing enthusiastic support.

“Oh my god, it’s just unbelievable…to be able to do it under the lights with my friends and family and seal it with a win,” Giaccio said. “I’m so excited because it’s exactly what I dreamed of.”

As expected, Giaccio wasn’t the only one to appreciate the support of the home crowd, with another Parker favorite, Ali Makuga, ringing his cowbell and cheering for the sign-carrying crowd. She finished fifth that night, initially losing her final podium spot to American teammate Hannah Soar late in the superfinal round.

“It doesn’t feel good to be pushed off the podium, but I’ll always accept being pushed off the podium by my teammates. I’m happy for them and I’m proud of them,” Makuga said. “Just knowing that we have all the support that has been rooting for us all season, just having them here in person for us is huge.”

Macuga and both U.S. teams will have that support again on Saturday, but first Friday will be a day off for practice before the aerial skiers will compete. Nick Page expects to take advantage of the spectators and improve course conditions as he aims for a top podium finish in Saturday’s dual moguls event.

“Course conditions just keep getting better and better,” Page said. “I think the biggest challenge today was keeping the goggles clear. But Saturday is going to be great weather. It’s going to be a smoke show.”

Page interestingly said that this event was more stressful than the Olympics, considering it was his home mountain and where he learned things like how to ski moguls. That’s probably a sentiment shared by all 14 of his skiers who will be in Park City this weekend, many of whom will be hitting the snow again tomorrow in the air.

Aerial qualifying runs begin Friday at 3:30 p.m. for the women and culminate with the men’s and women’s finals at 7:30 p.m. The jumping hill is located at the base of the resort’s White Owl Run.

These events were once again offered free to interested patrons, and all VIP passes sold out that night. For more information on tomorrow’s aerials, Saturday’s dual moguls, and more about the Deer Valley World Cup, visit the website deervalley.com/things-to-do/activities/world-cup.