It’s Kearney and Colas Again in Lake Placid

Wilmington, NY - When American Hannah Kearney (Norwich, Vt.) races on Whiteface Mountain, in Wilmington, N.Y., the question is, “Who’s going to finish second?” Kearney won for the third straight time on the Olympic mountain, when she skied to another first place finish during Sunday’s, Jan. 23, FIS Nature Valley Freestyle World Cup women’s moguls’ competition.

The reigning Olympic champion and current overall World Cup leader came away with her second victory of the weekend when she tallied 26.12 points from the scoring judges. Two judges even awarded Kearney perfect scores of 5.0.

“It’s great to get perfect scores, but I’m more happy with how consistent I was all weekend. I’m most excited about winning all four runs,” noted Kearney. “At the top during the finals today I was hearing some pretty high scores and that just pushed and focused me even more before my run.”

For the second day in a row, Canadians occupied the podium’s two remaining steps. Chloe Dufour-LaPointe claimed the silver medal with 24.85 points, while Kristi Richards won bronze with a final point total of 24.57.

France’s Guilbault Colas is also feeling right at home on the 240-meter long Wilderness trail course. The men’s World Cup leader also picked up his second gold medal this weekend, squeaking by two more Canadians to grab the event’s top spot.

Colas skied to 25.70 points, just .11 points more than silver medalist Mikael Kingsbury. Kingsbury’s teammate and fellow Canadian, Alexandre-Pierre Rousseau, finished in the bronze medal spot, with 25.16 points from the judges.

This weekend’s FIS Nature Valley Freestyle World Cup event brought more than 140 athletes from 19 countries to the region. It was also the only freestyle World Cup in the United States.

Be sure to look for all of this weekend’s World Cup action NBC and Versus. NBC’s coverage is scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 29, at 2 p.m., while Versus’ coverage is slated to begin at 3 p.m., Saturday. Versus will also air coverage of the event, Sunday, Jan. 30, beginning at 2 p.m. Check your local listings.