Dale Begg-Smith Cements His Number One Mogul Status

January 15th, 2010

 

 

The first day of a double World Cup in Deer Valley sees Begg-Smith on the top of the podium yet again, on the very same course he suffered a season ending knee injury just a year ago. Qualifying in second position behind France’s Guilbault Colas, Begg-Smith again stepped it up for finals, skiing the course two seconds faster than his qualifying time and leaving the field in his wake to take the day with a total score of 26.12 a lead of more than half a point over second place skier Guilbault Colas of France with 25.48. Dmitriy Reiherd of Kazakhstan placed third posting a 25.10.


Video:: www.skidebosses.com

During my many years coaching World Cup it’s always been impressive to see one skier who can stand on top of the podium week after week like Dale has done these past two weeks. Other Aussies at Deer Valley include Sam Hall who skied to 40th position followed by teammate Matt Graham in 41st. Hugh Norton placed in 56th.

Broken Dreams for Australia’s Ramone Cooper

Skiing bumps takes its toll and few are left unscathed. Unfortunately, Australia’s Ramone Cooper has sustained what is likely a season ending knee injury during training at Deer Valley, leaving him unable to enter the competition. Further MRI results will confirm the extent of the injury although initial prognoses indicate the Olympics are in serious jeopardy for Ramone.

Call it home court advantage

The women’s saw USA’s Heather McPhie take her first World Cup win of her career, which was technically a tie with Canada’s gold medal winner in Torino Jennifer Heil. After the tie breaker, McPhie took the win and confirmed a berth for the Games in Vancouver. McPhie also moves up to the number two spot on the World Cup rankings. Shannon Bahrke seized her first podium of the season taking third. Shannon and I have fond memories of Deer Valley from the 2002 Salt Lake Winter Olympics. While coaching the US Team during the Salt Lake Games we saw Shannon win the silver on this very same challenging course.

For complete results click here
To read about Dale’s double World Cup golds last week click here
To read Ramone and Dale’s profiles clickhere
Read more about the mogul skiing click here

Words:: Don St.Pierre
:: Photo:: Getty Images