Locals Find Success During 2020 Freestyle World Cup Event At Deer Valley

KPCW | By David Boyle

Published February 10, 2020 at 12:03 PM MST

Three US Mogul skiers Hannah Soar, Jaelin Kauf, and Tess Johnson are crowded by fans and family after the women finish in the top four at an event at Deer Valley in Park City Utah

The 2020 Intermountain Healthcare Freestyle International at Deer Valley Resort took place over three nights last weekend with plenty of locals recording personal bests.

US Ski & Snowboard spokesperson Laura Carlton says the Intermountain Healthcare Freestyle was well attended.

“Yeah it was an awesome event,” Carlton said. “We had some big crowds between 7,000 and 8,000 people I believe each night. The US team felt the love.”

Competition began Thursday evening with moguls. Skiers were challenged with extreme windy weather. Hannah Soar and Jaelin Kauf led the way for team USA finishing 4^th and 5^th. Tess Johnson finished 9^th.

The men’s team was led by Park City’s own Nick Page who made the finals and finished in 10^th. Jesse Andringa had a career best in singles finishing 11^th and Bradley Wilson finished 12^th. Jesse Andringa is the younger brother of Olympian mogul skier Casey Andringa. Casey was proud to boast about his younger brother’s 22.94 second run on Thursday night.

“Confirmed/unconfirmed he had the fastest time on Champion ever,” Andringa continued. “I spent about 30 minutes looking at old archives and I haven't found one faster yet. So, if you know of one out there that is faster, come challenge us.”

Conditions improved for the rest of the weekend starting Friday night at the aerial’s competition. The US was led by Megan Nick who had her first career podium finishing 2^nd in the evenings event. Nick was followed closely by Winter Vinecki who finished 4^th and Kaila Kuhn who finished 5^th, all three were career best finishes.

Eric Loughran and Jonathon Lillis finished 5^th and 6^th respectively in the men’s competition.

Saturday night’s dual moguls saw three US women in the semi-finals those being Jaelin Kauf, Hannah Soar and Tess Johnson. Carlton says Johnson set the stage with an upset earlier in the evening.

“Tess, with the MVP move, beat until then undefeated Perrine Laffont from France in her quarterfinal,” Carlton explained. “Which allowed all three women to compete in the semifinal which guaranteed us two podiums.”

Soar finished 2^nd, while Kauf finished 3^rd and Johnson ended in 4th.

Kalman Heims led the way for the men finishing in 12^th place.