The opening FIS World Cup Mogul Skiing event takes place this weekend in Ruka, Finland.

The event will be contested by emerging AIS Mogul Skiing athletes Britt Cox and Matt Graham, who will be competing in their first ever World Cup events outside of North America.

Both Cox and Graham will have benefitted from plenty of runs on the Ruka course, having been based at the resort since mid-November for their first on snow training camp of the northern hemisphere winter.

AIS Mogul Skiing Head Coach Steve Desovich has been pleased with both of his young athlete’s work ethic in Ruka, which is renowned for its tough training environment being in the Arctic Circle, with cold temperatures and only a few hours of sunlight per day at this time of year.

“Both Britt and Matt have applied themselves exceptionally well in Ruka, which can be very tough on young athletes.”

“The course has been difficult with icy conditions making training challenging.”

“The first event will be tough for both athletes, but we hope the early season training will give them a great platform for the North American World Cups in January and February.”

The event will take place late on Saturday night on the 10th of December Australian time.