Park City’s Nick Page led all U.S. men’s moguls skiers at the FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships this weekend in Bakuriani, Georgia. The 20-year-old scored a new personal best world championships finish on Sunday after coming in seventh in dual moguls. Page also had a 15th-place result in Saturday’s moguls event.
“There was a lot of really good positives to take away from it,” Page said. “Definitely more that I was looking to accomplish, but yeah, I’m happy with where things are trending and learned a lot throughout that week.”
During the dual moguls event, Page qualified for the round of 16 and advanced past Jimi Salonen of Finland to make it to the quarterfinals. Page’s run ended there when he came up short against Australia’s Matt Graham in a 25-10 decision.
“I made one mistake in that round-of-eight run against Matt Graham and lost to him, but some of the stuff I did earlier that day was really sharp and really strong,” Page said. “I guess it’s tricky – I used to get really excited about the personal bests at the events, and then since getting that first win this year, I guess nothing is as sweet as that. So, I’m definitely trying to get back to that spot where I can consistently get results like that.”
Page scoring a couple of top-16 results and staying in the hunt in dual moguls in Georgia came at a good time after a difficult stretch on the World Cup circuit. He didn’t qualify for the finals of either of the two events at Deer Valley Resort earlier in February and had his worst finish of the season in Italy the following weekend, coming in 31st.
“Had a couple of things happen at Deer Valley that just felt off a little and then got crazy, crazy sick before that event in Italy,” Page said. “Just was collapsing on the side of the run even trying to get up to the start gate – just so sick. So, getting back into where I kind of had some of my groove back felt really good. Back where I was competitive again. Kind of taking each step moving forward because I know there’s a lot more I want to get out of it.”
After wrapping up the biggest event on the calendar, Page reflected on his season as the final events approach.
“It was a very successful year, had some really good highs and then obviously some lows to go along with it,” Page said. “But I think overall, my trajectory is on a good path, kind of been trending upwards, which is nice, and just getting more experience and trying to get into more of these situations where I feel like I can get in and find a way to win.”
The final World Cup stop of the season will be in Almaty, Kazakhstan, where athletes will compete in both moguls and dual moguls on March 17 and 18. Page is in fifth in the overall World Cup standings, but he’s in fourth in the moguls standings and 29 points away from Graham in third place.
“I’m definitely looking to make a move,” Page said. “Big week coming up in Kazakhstan in a couple weeks.”
For Park City skier Cole McDonald, this year’s world championships were a valuable learning experience after what he considered a couple of disappointing performances. McDonald came in 30th in moguls and 21st in dual moguls in his first trip to the world championships.
“I wanted to put down my best run and really go for that world championships podium, but unfortunately in moguls, if you try to go for it too much and don’t stick to the game plan, things can go wrong pretty fast,” he said. “In the future, I’m definitely looking to kind of dial it back a little bit in high-stakes situations like that. It’s just a good learning experience for me.”
After competing in his first world championships and Olympics and becoming a regular on the World Cup circuit, all since the start of last season, McDonald is trying to establish himself among the top skiers in the sport. He’s seventh in the overall World Cup standings ahead of the trip to Kazakhstan and is hoping to win a national championship this year.
“Now that I’ve really gone to every world competition you can go to now, that is a pretty crazy thing for me and a huge accomplishment as well,” McDonald said. “I’m no longer going to be a rookie at any of these events, and none of these are going to be my first starts anymore.”
McDonald had the opportunity to enjoy his first world championships with fellow debutant and Park City skier Dylan Marcellini. Marcellini finished 20th in moguls and 12th in dual moguls in Georgia.
“It felt a lot like the World Cup, but it was super cool to share this experience with our good friend Dylan Marcellini,” McDonald said. “It really felt like kind of an Olympics experience for both of us as well, being able to just run around the town together and kind of have a little opening ceremony as well and really just celebrate our accomplishments.”