McCargo Third in Tazawako

Fresh off of her first Olympic appearance, Keaton McCargo (Telluride, Colo.) led four U.S. women into finals and landed her second career moguls World Cup podium with a third-place finish on day one of competition in Tazawako, Japan.

McCargo skied strong all day, qualifying first into finals and then posting the highest score, an 81.26, heading into the super finals. A small mistake on her final run bumped her down to third place, matching her best finish from a World Cup in Ruka, Finland in 2016.

"I was really just thinking about having fun today," said McCargo. "The pressure from before the Olympics was off and I was able to really be aggressive and ski the way I wanted to. I qualified first in the beginning two runs and felt really confident going into the final. I had one mistake in the middle section that cost me the win but I am happy with were I am. I had a blast skiing and that's the only thing that really matters to me."

France’s newly crowned Olympic gold medalist Perinne Laffont took home the win with Canada’s Justine Dufour-LaPointe in second. Olivia Giaccio (Redding, Conn.) just missed the podium in fourth place. Tess Johnson (Vail, Colo.) was eighth and Morgan Schild (Pittsford, N.Y.) 16th.

On the men’s side, Joel Hedrick (Winter Park, Colo.) was the top U.S. finisher in sixth place. Troy Murphy (Bethel, Maine), Casey Andringa (Boulder, Colo.) and Emerson Smith (Dover, Vt.) also advanced into the final rounds, finishing 10th, 12th, and 16th respectively. Japan’s Ikuma Horishima upset Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury to take the win, with Kazakstan’s Dmitriy Reikhard finishing third.

Action continues in Tazawako on Sunday with the first dual moguls competition of the season. Qualification rounds begin at 12:15 p.m. followed by finals at 1:30 p.m JST.

RESULTS
Men’s Moguls
Women’s Moguls