New South Wales Institute of Sport mogul athletes have posted strong results in two days of competition at the Nor-Am event at Apex Mountain in BC, Canada.

The highlight for the team came on day two’s dual mogul event, with Rohan Chapman-Davies qualifying in second place, Brodie Summers third place, Taylah O’Neill in fourth and Emma Chapman-Davies in 13th.

In the duals Rohan Chapman-Davies was unfortunately eliminated in the first round to finish ninth, Brodie Summers won his first dual but was eliminated in the second round to finish in fifth.

Taylah O’Neil and team-mate Emma Chapman-Davies were matched up in the women’s first round, with Taylah emerging victorious. Taylah then won her next dual before going down to eventual winner Andi Naude of Canada in the semi-finals and ended up in fourth place.Emma Chapman-Davies finished the event ranked 13th.

The results by Taylah and Brodie were personal best Nor-Am finishes.

On day one, three athletes made finals, with Taylah O’Neill in11th place, Emma Chapman-Davies 12th and Brodie Summers in 14th. Rohan Chapman-Davies missed qualifying for finals by one place, finishing in 17th.

Val St. Come Nor-Am
After the Apex event, the NSWIS team headed east to Quebec, Canada, for a Nor-Am competition in Val St.Come.

On a challenging course, the leading Australian performance again came from female athletes Emma Chapman-Davies, Taylah O'Neill and Madii Himbury who all recorded finals performances over the two days of competition in 10th, 12th and 14th place respectively.

The male athletes in the team struggled with the tough conditions, with David Graham recording his best performance of the Nor-Am tour, finishing in 20th place in the Dual Moguls.

The NSWIS program now heads to Killington, Vermont, USA, for the final Nor-Am mogul event of the international season.

The New South Wales Institute of Sport and SSA Sub Development mogul teams have competed in the opening Nor-Am event of the northern winter in Telluride, CO, USA.

The highlights included three different athletes recording a finals performance, achieved by NSWIS scholarship holders Brodie Summers, Rohan Chapman-Davies and Taylah O’Neill.

On day one of competition, Brodie Summers had an outstanding performance for the first run qualifying in first place for the final. Unfortunately Brodie was carrying too much speed in the final and had to pull out of the line before the bottom jump, finishing in 15th place.

Rohan Chapman-Davies and Taylah O’Neill finished up the highest ranked Australians, both finishing in 8th place. Other athlete performances on day one were Maddi Himbury in 19th, David Graham 23rd, Emma Chapman-Davies 26th, Kate Blamey 37th, Campbell Cooke 41st, Jake Ashton 42nd, Josh Himbury 46th and James Campbell in 52nd.

On day two of competition Brodie Summers and Rohan Champan-Davies again qualified for finals, with Rohan again finishing the highest ranked Australian in ninth place and Brodie in 16th.

Other Australian performance on day two were Maddi Himbury in 23rd, Emma Chapman-Davies 25th, David Graham 26th, Jake Ashton 29th, Kate Blamey 33rd, Campbell Cooke 34th, Taylah O'Neill 38th, Josh Himbury 46th and James Campbell 50th.

Both teams now head to Apex, BC, Canada, for two more days of Nor-Am competition.

Promising teenager Matt Graham had his moment in the spotlight just before the World Cup season ended for the AIS mogul skiing program.

Competing in the World Cup dual moguls event at the American resort of Deer Valley today, Graham qualified for the finals in 17th place, won his dual in the first elimination round against Finland's Jussi Penttala before going down in the second final to current Olympic gold medalist Canadian Alexandre Bilodeau.

Graham’s 14th overall place was a personal best in World Cup competition and provided the perfect way to end his season, which started last November.

The result will also provide the perfect motivation for the Australian Institute of Sport / NSW Institute of Sport, Perisher-based athlete to capitalise on a tough off season training campaign in Australia, due to start after the team enjoys a brief break.

The event was won by Russian Sergey Volkov, Canadian Mikael Kingsbury finished second and third went to Russia’s Andrey Volkov.

In the women’s event, 17-year-old, Britt Cox, added an 11th place to her outstanding season, which reached its peak 48 hours ago when she claimed her first World Cup medal by finishing the individual moguls event, also at Deer Valley, in third place.

Cox qualified very strongly in sixth place with another excellent performance today but unfortunately the AIS/NSWIS athlete’s event finished in the first final when she made a mistake and fell before the top jump against American KC Oakley.

The event was won by the Olympic Champion American Hannah Kearney, with Canadian Justine Dufour-Lapointe in second place while American Heather McPhie finished third.

AIS mogul skiing head coach Steve Desovich has already started the season evaluation and not surprisingly has been very happy with the improvement made by Cox this season. However, he is quick to add that he is hopeful the teenager has much bigger achievements ahead.

He cites Cox’s enormous improvement with jumps and significant gains with speed as the two factors which have brought about her rise up the world rankings this season.

“For Britt until Friday the season was good, but with that podium her season is excellent,” Desovich said.

“There is no way we could have forecasted that she would be on the podium this year. What she did the other night was really great and completely unexpected.

“So for her, it has been an excellent campaign.”

Desovich is also pleased with the progress made by Graham and regards this season’s performances as very encouraging.

“Matt did well today. He qualified 16th, won his first dual run and finish in 14th position, which is a great way to end the season,” Desovich said.

“We are pleased with Matt. To see him do well today is a good result for him and hopefully this helps him to get going for the future.”

“Nineteen year old Nicole Parks finished in 22nd place in the dual mogul event but has also made significant progress during the last four weeks of World Cup competition.

“Nicole also has had some very bright moments over the past weeks. On Thursday night the 13th place was a huge step forward. Making two finals from four events is a big change this year in the right direction. With more work on her jumps Nicole will come prepared for next season, with a strong chance to really succeed at the World Cup level.” Desovich said.

In other results with Australians competing in the Deer Valley moguls, NSWIS athlete Taylah O’Neill, competing in her second World Cup event of the season, placed 29th.

Teenager Brittney Cox has won Australia’s first women’s World Cup moguls medal by placing third in the single moguls event in Deer Valley, USA.

Although the 2010 Olympian is still only 17, Cox produced a series of brilliant runs in front of a large crowd to finish the night event with the bronze medal, behind Americans Hannah Kearney, who completed her 13th straight World Cup victory, and Heather McPhie.

The Australian Institute of Sport / NSW Institute of Sport scholarship holder becomes only the second Australian woman to medal in World Cup or World Championship moguls competition. Maria Despas took silver at the 2001 World Championships.

Cox, who is having her best season in her short career, is now ranked 14th in the world after the Deer Valley result. She was not expecting a podium finish this season although many involved with international moguls skiing have predicted a bright future for the Perisher-based athlete.

“I’m so excited, a thrilled Cox said.

“I had no idea I would be able to achieve a World Cup podium this year.

“I had a super-awesome day today. I felt I was in the right frame of mind in the start gate, ready to go, and I executed the things I have been working on in training for the last few days.

“I also skied fast which is something I have been working on the last few weeks.”

Most of Cox’s significant improvement this season has come directly from her relentless work ethic and the huge commitment she has made to training under the watchful eye of AIS mogul skiing program head coach Steve Desovich, AIS Mogul jump coach Steve Desovich and NSWIS winter sports scientist John Marsden.

“I have been involved in a lot of sports since a really young age and I have learned that hard work pays off,” Cox said.

“I know that if I try my hardest then I can do the best I can possibly do. Each time I train I try my hardest and always try to do better than the run before. I think hard work is the key and that is what is helping me.”

“I have been concentrating on getting PBs and focusing on my skiing, and to find out that I am the first Australian woman to win a World Cup moguls medal is such a bonus and so exciting.

“This is a big boost for my confidence and now I know what I am capable of and I just want to set the bar higher to strive for more PBs and do better in the future.

“I want to keep working on my speed and aggression and skiing more on intuition and feel, being in the moment when I ski so I can react to different scenarios and situations.

“My goal is to be the best mogule skier that I can become and if that means a medal at the Olympics, that would be great, but I am always going to focus on achieving the best results that I am capable of achieving.”

Cox’s bronze medal, along with encouraging personal best results by fellow teenager Nicole Parks, who finished 13th and qualified for her second straight final, and seventeen-year-old Taylah- O’Neill, who finished 24th in her first world cup event, gave Australia a day described by Olympic Winter Institute CEO Geoff Lipshut as one of the best day in Australian women’s moguls skiing history.

“Today shows that Australian women’s moguls skiing has a very bright future,” Lipshut said

In the men's event AIS Mogul Skier Matt Graham unfortunately made a mistake before the jump on the middle section finishing in 44th place.