There’s just something about competing in Idre Fjall, Sweden, that brings out the best in Park City moguls skier Nick Page. It was the site of Page’s first and only World Cup podium heading into this weekend’s competitions. He felt optimistic about competing there after finishing fourth in the World Cup opener the previous week.
Page ended up crushing his last run of the day on Saturday and taking first place, his first World Cup win and the first by an American man in moguls since fellow Park City skier Bradley Wilson did it back in 2016. Page capped off the weekend with a third-place finish in Sunday’s dual moguls event.
“It was a really fun weekend, and it’s nice to see that a lot of the work that was going on behind the scenes kind of showed itself and turned into a result, which was cool,” Page said.
In Saturday’s moguls event, Page qualified for the first finals round and then came in third to qualify for the six-man super final. At the top of the course, he watched as Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury, the three-time Olympic medalist, top-ranked moguls skier in the world and owner of 76 World Cup wins, embarked on his run while Page waited for his turn. When Kingsbury’s score of 79.86 was announced, Page knew he had a chance.
“I heard that, and I kind of took it in for a second,” Page said. “(I) thought, ‘OK, a 79, I know I can ski better than a 79. I know I’ve got this in the tank, I just need to put it down.”
That’s exactly what Page did. Page’s time of 22.32 seconds was the third-fastest in the super final, but Page separated himself from the Canadian legend in the air. A cork 720 with a grab on the first jump and then a cork 1080 jump on the second gave him the highest air score in the super final. Page skied away with an 81.02 overall score, the only one in the 80s, to top the leaderboard.
“I was lucky that my air score was high enough to kind of give me a buffer,” Page said. “(Kingsbury) was probably going to ski a little faster than I was, have similar turns and I was trying to ski as clean as I could to minimize the deductions. So, it was really the air for me that won yesterday.”
It was a special moment for Page to not only win his first World Cup event, but also because he beat Kingsbury. In addition to being a legend in the sport, Page recalled how Kingsbury mentored him growing up.
“I’m not in that position to win a World Cup without him,” Page said. “So much of what I did yesterday, so much of my career has come from things that he’s given me. Just the knowledge, the friendship, knowing that I have someone like him looking out for me, I’m not there without him.”
Page wasn’t done in Sweden after that, and he wasn’t finished duking it out with skiers he’s close with. Park City skier Cole McDonald finished fifth in Saturday’s event, and the two met in Sunday’s dual moguls World Cup event to decide who would take third place. In a battle between the last two Rookies of the Year, Page came out on top for his second podium finish in as many days.
“It’s really fun to fight against each other in these situations because both of us want to win so badly, and we just want to beat the other person so badly that it really brings out the best in both of us and only makes us better,” Page said. “To ski against him the last two days was really fun, and to see where he’s at with his skiing and how he’s competing is really exciting because he’s right there, knocking on the door. He’s definitely a threat to all of us on the World Cup tour.”
Page sits in second place in the overall moguls World Cup standings, second in moguls and third in dual moguls after two stops, while McDonald is fifth in the overall standings, fifth in moguls and fourth in dual moguls. Page said his goal at the beginning of the season was to finish in the top three across the board. There’s still plenty of skiing left, but he’s off to a hot start.
“I’ve got to put my foot back on the gas,” Page said. “Taking a win, taking another podium and celebrating it for a second, being happy about it. But then, putting my head back down and getting to work is kind of the next step.”