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Dual moguls back at Deer Valley

Because dual moguls isn’t an Olympic sport, fans who attended the Deer Valley Freestyle World Cup event last year watched two moguls competitions instead. This year, though, the popular duals event is back.

On Saturday night, dual mogul finals begin at 7 p.m. at Deer Valley’s Champion run, with fireworks following the awards ceremony at 8:40 p.m.

The star-studded roster of athletes, including Americans Hannah Kearney and Bryon Wilson, are excited to show off their dual mogul skills in front of the Park City crowd again.

"It’s always a treat for us to come to Deer Valley," Wilson said. "I think the part I like the most is the atmosphere. We have an amazing crowd that shows up and it’s always great to feel that support. Being at the top of the course, looking down and not seeing anything but the course and hearing the people yelling for you is a really special feeling."

"It makes you feel like a superstar standing at the top of the course with everyone cheering for you," Kearney added.

Wilson said the dual moguls competition is a fan favorite, which adds a little bit of energy for the athletes as well.

"Dual moguls is probably the most exciting thing to watch," he said. "The crowd gets fired up for us every time we have it. It’s fun to ski it, too. When you have that other guy pushing you, you ski a little bit faster, a little bit more out of control — you don’t really know if you’re going to make it down. It’s exciting skiing."

In dual moguls, two skiers take to the course at the same time, with the loser eliminated. Wilson said having another competitor on course at the same time understandably makes for some difficult racing.

"There’s a little bit more strategy to it," he said. "The more you can get out ahead of the guy next to you, the better. If you can get to the top jump first, it puts more pressure on the guy next to you. Then it’s basically just hang on and hope."

Park City residents should pay extra attention to Kearney, who might be competing for the last time at Deer Valley.

"You never want to make an official [retirement] announcement, because we’ve all seen too many athletes come out of what they’ve claimed was their last season," she said. "And at a venue like this, it makes you feel like you could ski forever. If I could stay at the Silver Baron and ski Champion and be using the [USSA Center of Excellence] at every World Cup, none of us would ever retire. This is a wonderful event."

The preliminary rounds of Saturday’s dual mogul competition begin at 4:55 p.m. Finals are scheduled to run from 7-8:20 p.m. For more information, visit http://www.deervalley.com .


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