Moguls Returns to World Cup at Tremblant

After a six-week break in their World Cup schedule, the mogul skiers of the U.S. Freestyle Ski Team return to the world stage on Saturday in Tremblant, Canada. This is the first of two Canadian World Cups before the Team competes on home snow at the 2020 Intermountain Healthcare Freestyle International at Deer Valley Resort Feb. 6-8.

After a grueling six weeks on the road last November and December, the holiday break was a much welcome opportunity for athletes to spend quality time with friends and family. Many skied home mountains to reignite their passion for sliding on snow. A productive training camp in Steamboat and participating in U.S. Selections means these athletes are primed and ready to strike this Saturday.

Returning to competition this weekend are Brad Wilson and Tom Rowley. Brad opted not to compete in the first World Cups of the season to spend more time preparing. Tom missed the first few World Cups due to a back injury. U.S. Ski & Snowboard Head Moguls Coach Matt Gnoza noted that every day he trained in January, not only did he say he felt better, but it showed in his skiing. “I feel pretty excited to get back in the gate,” said Tom. “The course here is pretty flat so I’m looking to ski a clean run with minimal mistakes, and hopefully that’s enough to get in the final and then anything can happen from there.”

Kai Owens will be making her World Cup debut in Tremblant. This is Kai’s first year on the U.S. Ski Team and she is the youngest U.S. woman to compete at the World Cup level at 15 years 5 months and 10 days old. “‌When‌ ‌Kai is ‌on,‌ ‌she’s‌ ‌dangerous‌ ‌enough‌ ‌to‌ ‌throw‌ ‌big‌ ‌jumps,” noted Matt. “She has a ‌big‌ ‌back‌ ‌X ‌on‌ ‌top‌, ‌and‌ ‌her‌ ‌cork‌ ‌is‌ ‌probably‌ ‌one of the‌ ‌better‌ ‌ones‌ ‌we‌ will ‌see‌ ‌on‌ ‌the World Cup ‌tour‌ ‌these‌ ‌next‌ ‌few‌ ‌weeks.‌” Putting young female skiers on the World Cup tour is a relatively new phenomenon Coach Gnoza noted. But it’s important for athletes to get World Cup experience to succeed on tour. Kai beats out teammates Tess Johnson (15 years, 7 months, 16 days), Kenzie Radway (15 years 6 months 27 days) and Olivia Giaccio (15 yrs, 5 mos, 20 days) who also made their World Cup debuts at a young age. 

“I’m feeling super excited coming into this weekend,” said Kai. “Definitely a bit nervous, but so far I’ve just been having fun and exploring Tremblant. What’s driven me to this point so far is my passion for competing and training to get better every day. Training earlier [this week] was super cool, I enjoyed getting to know the course and hitting some jumps. Skiing definitely relieved some of my nerves, and I’m really looking forward to competing!”

Leading the Americans is Jaelin Kauf, who after securing her first podium with a second-place in duals in Thaiwoo, China, will be looking to add World Cup hardware to her arsenal. Tess Johnson has been putting in the work to bring a 360 mute grab to competition, Tremblant may be where she pulls the trigger on it at the World Cup level. Hannah Soar is coming off of her first career World Cup podium with a third place in duals in Thaiwoo and has been training different trick packages this January, Gnoza suspects we’ll see a cork 7 to a backflip grab in Tremblant - it’s her most consistent highest scoring run. 

On the men’s side Jesse Andringa is still riding the high of an outstanding dual against Mikael Kingsbury in Thaiwoo. He is skiing with a high level of confidence and fun, and he has been working on a few different trick packages during the midseason prep period. Alex Lewis is skiing very solid technically, his last run on Day 2 of U.S. Selections was phenomenal according to Matt. Watch for him to make a push into finals in these North American World Cups. Another American due for a World Cup final is Nick Page, whose podium at U.S. Selections has given the young skier a level of confidence in his skiing.

Athletes will train a final day on Friday before getting in the gates on Saturday, Jan. 25 for the first moguls World Cup of the new decade. 

STARTERS

Women
Tess Johnson
Jaelin Kauf
Kai Owens
Hannah Soar

Men
Jesse Andringa
Alex Lewis 
Nick Page
Tom Rowley
Brad Wilson
Dylan Walczyk
Kalman Heims

HOW TO WATCH 
All times EST

FREESTYLE
Saturday, Jan. 25
1:30 p.m. - Men’s and women’s moguls, Tremblant, CAN - Olympic Channel, OlympicChannel.com, NBC Sports Gold