ALPINE:

Hicks leads top-4 sweep for Canada moguls at Killington

Feb. 27, 2011 — CFSA

KILLINGTON, Vermont — “Finally.” That was the response from Canadian coach Adrian Taggart after his men’s moguls team dominated in Saturday’s NorAm here, earning the top four spots.

“I knew these guys had it in them and I’m so glad I finally got to see it because they all put down super-good, fast runs with very few mistakes. As a team, their edge is that they have a lot of speed and are all really good jumpers.”

Saturday’s winner, Eddie Hicks from Langley, B.C., who scored 25.81 on the steep, long course, echoed his coach’s sentiments: “It was only a matter of time, and for sure it’s way more special to be able to win together with my teammates.

Hicks was excited that with one event to go, his win clinched his position as the Grand Prix winner of this year’s Nor-Am circuit.

“It’s sweet, I’m stoked, it feels like a great accomplishment, especially with so many talented guys on the tour.”

Hicks was joined on the podium by Simon Pouliot Cavanagh and Marc-Antoine Gagnon, who scored 25.54 and 25.02, respectively.

“I’m not completely satisfied with my performance today, I was slow in qualifications, but I managed to come back. That’s a boost to my confidence, you could call it a ‘confidence comeback,’ and it was great to reach our team goal of a sweep,” said Pouliot-Cavanagh.

Gagnon tried out a new trick, a cork 1080, on the top jump, and was happy with his performance. “The jump was perfect for it and I did it well in training, so I thought, why not do it in competition,” he said, adding that the trick went really well but a couple of small technical mistakes later in the run cost him.

Arnaud Laurin-Landry was just behind his teammates in fourth, earning his personal-best Nor-Am finish and a score of 24.49.

Maxime Dufour-Lapointe continued her hot streak in the women’s competition. She took the bronze at 22.17. Americans KC Oakley and Ali Kariotis were first and second at 23.58 and 22.42, respectively.

With five medals in as many events, Dufour-Lapointe, said, “I can see that I can be really consistent in my runs and in my training, now my goal is just to raise the level of that consistency.”

Other Canadian women in the final were Alexandra Gagnon in seventh at 20.94, Christel Hamel in ninth at 20.88, Beatrice Bilodeau in 10th at 20.69;,Alexandra Dufresne in 13th at 17.95 and Katrine Bazinet, who did not finish and ended the day in 16th..There is more moguls action here Sunday with the Nor-Am finals, a dual moguls event.