Wednesday afternoon at Deer Valley Resort, some of the top international freestyle skiers were introduced to local athletes, fans and media.
Leading an hour-long press conference was ski media legend Tom Kelly. The four selected athletes were the best-ever men’s skier Mikael Kingsbury of Canada, second-ranked men’s mogulist Ben Cavet of France, and Beijing Olympics mixed-teams aerials bronze medalists Marion Thenault and Lewis Irving of Canada.
The four skiers detailed their personal aspirations for the weekend and the near future. They also touched upon what makes the Deer Valley World Cup such a special stop on the calendar.
“It’s probably the most difficult one,” said Kingsbury on the competition. “This year is quite, quite difficult.”
Kingsbury is gunning for his 97th Cup win this weekend. The current greatest-skier-of-all-time Mikaela Shiffrin has 99 and counting Cup wins as an alpine racer.
“I have a lot of good memories on that course from doing well for a long time, so I’m feeling good,” said Kingsbury.
“I’m not skiing for the number,” added Kingsbury on the race to 100 Cup wins. “I’m trying to mainly focus on being my best run-by-run and day-by-day. I know if I do that, I’ll reach 100 at some point.”
Kingsbury didn’t love the training day he had Wednesday on the Champion course. The moguls skiers are having to exert more effort and deal with a more unpredictably performing course with the warm temperatures early this week.
On Thursday in solo moguls, Kingsbury caught an untimely edge before the bottom jumps and crashed out in the finals round, escaping uninjured.
Irving said the Canadian aerials team identified Deer Valley as an event they wanted to peak at early in the season. If the 29 year old is able to secure a podium Friday, he can secure his spot in the 2026 Olympics.
“Deer Valley is a big one,” said Irving. “(A podium would) take all that weight off my shoulders going into next year.”
Irving said that if conditions allow, he’ll throw some quintuple-twisting tricks Friday. Wednesday’s training sessions for aerials were cancelled due to the warm temperatures.
Irving’s 2022 Beijing bronze medal teammate Thenault is now throwing triple-twisting jumps. She’s excited to try the toughest tricks in front of the often-packed Deer Valley crowd.
“Now, I compete the hardest tricks in the world,” said Thenault. “I love competing in front of big crowds. … With the finals at night under with the lights, we just see this sea of people from the top (of White Owl). … Deer Valley is one of my favorite events for that. The energy is just so amazing.”
Cavet is skiing his 13th Deer Valley Cup and is chasing an elusive first victory. The 31-year-old Frenchman finished third in Thursday night’s solos with a score of 83.32. Ikuma Horishima of Japan won the event with a score of 86.24, the third highest in Deer Valley history.
“Deer Valley is one of the competitions that we definitely focus on at the beginning of the season,” said Cavet. “It’s a course that I love and have done well on in the past. … I’m going to push hard for a win here.”
The four skiers closed their press conference by answering questions from Wasatch Freestyle skiers and some media members. The Wasatch kids asked questions — mostly in French — about the skiers’ nerves atop their courses, upbringings in their sports and more.
Eight skiers from the United States followed the international athletes, concluding the press event. The local kids and fans then got a chance to walk up to their heroes for a quick conversation and autograph.
For a complete schedule of the Cup, see below. For information on where to watch the competitions online, see the U.S. Ski Team’s website.
Friday — Aerials FIS World Cup
- 7:30 p.m. Women’s and Men’s Aerials Finals
- 8:40 p.m. Awards
Saturday — Dual Moguls FIS World Cup
- 4 p.m. Women’s and Men’s Dual Moguls Preliminary Rounds
- 7:30 p.m. Women’s and Men’s Dual Moguls Finals
- 8:55 p.m. Awards