Australian Institute of Sport/NSW Institute of Sport mogul skier Brodie Summers finished 12th today in the last event before the Sochi Olympic Winter Games qualification cut-off date, enhancing his chances of being selected in Australia’s team.

The result in Val St Come, Canada, created a new World Cup personal best for the Australian, improving his previous highest finish by six places.

The event was a Canadian first and second for Alex Bilodeau and Mikael Kingsbury with American Bradley Wilson third.

The 12th place lifts Summers’ world ranking to 28, seven places higher than before the Canadian event.

Summers progressed to his first final of the season, for the top 16 athletes from the qualification session, before delivering a run in the first final that was solid across turns, jumps and speed, but was not strong enough to put him in the six man super-final.

Summers, along with two other Australians who competed in Val St Come – Sam Hall, an AIS/NSWIS scholarship holder and Taylah O’Neill, an NSWIS athlete - will immediately rejoin other AIS/NSWIS squad members Matt Graham, Dale Begg-Smith, Nicole Parks and Britt Cox, at a training camp in the United States to fine tune their preparation for Sochi, which starts February 7.

While O’Neill was unable to qualify for the women’s final, she was 21st today, and Hall was 38th.

The women’s event was a one-two for Canadian sisters Chloe Dufour-Lapointe and Justine Dufour-Lapointe while Japan’s Junko Hoshino was the bronze medallist.

Australian Institute of Sport/NSW Institute of Sport mogul skier Britt Cox advanced to the final with the fourth highest qualification score and ended the World Cup in Lake Placid, USA, today in ninth place.

Making today’s 16-woman final means that Cox, 19, has appeared in a final at each World Cup this season.

However, Cox’s score in the first final was 74.26, which was unfortunately not high enough to make the second final, which decided medals.

The event was won by American Hannah Kearney, second was Yulia Galysheva from Kazakhstan with third going to Canadian Justine Dufour-Lapointe.

Brodie Summers, another AIS/NSWIS athlete, was Australia’s best male, finishing 18th, an equal best for the season, but unfortunately he missed the cut for the final.

Canadian Alex Bilodeau took out the event ahead of Americans Patrick Deneen in second and Bradley Wilson in third.

In other results with AIS/NSWIS skiers, Matt Graham was 22nd, Sam Hall was 35th, Nicole Parks was 19th while Dale Begg-Smith was rested. NSWIS athlete Taylah-Paige O’Neill was 28th.

Nineteen-year-old mogul skier Britt Cox achieved her second World Cup super-final appearance from four starts this season when she delivered a strong performance to finish sixth in front of 10,000 spectators attending the second World Cup event in Deer Valley, UT, USA.

Competing under lights, the Australian Institute of Sport / NSW Institute of Sport athlete was pressing for a medal in the final round against the day’s other top five athletes when Cox was unable to land her second jump cleanly on the famous Deer Valley Champion Run, which limited her scoring ability.

American Hannah Kearney gave the huge and vocal crowd something to cheer for by taking top honours ahead of Kazakhstan’s Yulia Galysheva in second, while Canadian Maxime Dufour-Lapointe was third.

With her parents and brother among the crowd, Cox was impressive all day, with eighth place in the qualification session and a fifth place in the first final, which qualified her for one of the six super-final positions up for grabs.

While Cox led the Australian charge, fellow squad member Nicole Parks also experienced a day to be proud of when she ended the event in 11th, an equal personal best in World Cup competition.

In men’s results, AIS / NSWIS scholarship holder Matt Graham was the best Australian, finishing in eighth, with his AIS team-mate Dale Begg-Smith in twelfth.

AIS mogul skiing program head coach Steve Desovich said that the squad is experiencing a “tight and intense period” as they begin their preparation for their third event in six days.

“It is challenging and the guys have to be prepared for it,” Desovich said.

“They have to be able to adapt and respond although the whole field has to also so it’s no different for us.”

As well as Cox’s solid result, Desovich added that he was very impressed with Graham’s performance.

“I was very pleased that Matt was able to bump it up a notch compared with the day before, in what I believe was a very nice run.”

In other results with Australians competing at Deer Valley, Sam Hall was 27th, James Matheson was 38th and Brodie Summers was 47th, while Taylah O’Neill was 19th.

AIS Mogul skier Dale Begg-Smith posted his second top-10 World Cup finish from three starts this season with another finals appearance in Deer Valley, USA.

After more than three years away from competition before starting his comeback in December, Begg-Smith was Australia’s best performer among the seven-member mogul ski squad with a ninth place.

Begg-Smith was unlucky not to reach the six-man super-final, after putting down what appeared to be the highest quality turns of the field in the first final.

In the women’s competition, AIS / NSWIS athlete Britt Cox also added to her consistent season with a 12th place after advancing to the final with the ninth best score in the qualification session.

In other Australian results, Taylah O’Neill was 28th, Nicole Parks 34th, Matt Graham 20th, Brodie Summers 49th, James Matheson 61st and Sam Hall did not finish his qualification run.

Australia’s mogul skiing squad had a solid day at the Calgary World Cup in Canada, with four athletes qualifying for finals.

The leading performance came from AIS / NSWIS athlete Britt Cox, who placed seventh, narrowly missing the top six super final.

Her seventh place result means that Cox maintains her world ranking of four.

Fellow AIS / NSWIS athlete Nicole Parks had the best day of her career, recording a personal best 11th place finish and has lifted her ranking from 30 after the first World Cup of the season to currently sit in 20th spot.

In the men's event, AIS / NSWIS athlete Dale Begg-Smith was the best placed of the Australians finishing 12th, with Matt Graham, another AIS / NSWIS scholarship holder, was 13th. The two had exactly the same score, but were separated on a countback.

The women's World Cup was won by Canadian Justine Dufour-Lapointe, with American Hannah Kearney second and another Canadian Chloe Dufour-Lapointe in third.

Canadian Mikael Kingsbury took the win from compatriot Alex Bilodeau and American Patrick Deneen in third.

Other Australian results in the 1988 Olympic Winter Games host city, held in minus 18 degrees Celsius, saw NSWIS skier Taylah-Paige O’Neill finish 22nd and AIS / NSWIS athletes Brodie Summers 29th and Sam Hall 40th.

AIS mogul skiing program head coach Steve Desovich was impressed by the speed down the steep challenging course by Cox.

Cox is benefitting from working tirelessly on strength and conditioning during the off season and in the event she was the second fastest woman on the course.

“It was a slightly above average day but we’ll definitely have to build on it,” Desovich said.

“Britt had a very good run in the first final and actually I was pretty impressed with the run.

“Her speed was very encouraging.”

Australia’s seven member mogul skiing squad will compete in a World Cup in Calgary, Canada, on Sunday (Australian time).

Teenage Australian Institute of Sport / NSW Institute of Sport athletes Britt Cox and Matt Graham go into the event after finishing fourth in the first event of the season in Ruka, Finland, in December.

However, Cox and Graham will not be the only points of interest in the Aussie squad.

Australia’s most successful winter Olympian, Dale Begg-Smith, is competing for only the second time since 2010.

Begg-Smith demonstrated his enormous talent in Ruka by finishing in fifth, which was highly impressive given his lengthy absence from competition.

Fellow AIS / NSWIS athletes Nicole Parks, Brodie Summers, Sam Hall and NSWIS skier Taylah O’Neill are all approaching the busy competition schedule, five World Cup events in 16 days, with a high level of confidence.

The squad has been training at the Colorado resort of Steamboat in the United States since competing in Finland.

The AIS Mogul Skiing program undertook a wide range of activities during July to October covering strength and conditioning, water jumping, on snow training and altitude camps.

Matt Graham, Sam Hall, Brodie Summers and Britt Cox took part in water ramp camps in Park City, UT, USA, with AIS Mogul Aerial Coach Jerry Grossi. The camps were very successful with noticeable gains for many of the athletes in their degree of difficulty and jump execution.

After the Park City camp, training took place on the world class Toppa’s Dream mogul course at Perisher.

The National Mogul Championships took place at Perisher and saw Matt Graham successfully defend his title with two wins in two days of competition. AIS/NSWIS Scholarship holder Sam Hall finished second overall with a sixth and a third through day one and two of competition. In the women’s event Nicole Parks and Britt Cox placed third and fourth respectively, over the two days. In a very promising sign for the future, NSWIS scholarship holder Taylah O’Neill was the best placed Australian finishing second overall.

In a further sign of depth within the Australian team, Olympic hopefuls and AIS/NSWIS scholarship athletes Brodie Summers and Nicole Parks won the James Boag’s ABOM Mogul Challenge at Mt Buller. It was the second ABOM victory of Nicole’s career and the first for Brodie.

An altitude camp was held at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra in September to prepare the athletes for an on snow training camp in Zermatt, Switzerland. The altitude camp at the AIS has proven to be very beneficial, with the athlete’s performing well in training on the Zermatt glacier.

After the Zermatt camp, athletes will take part in another camp at the AIS in Canberra and a water ramp camp during November at the SSA facility in Melbourne. This will be the final training activity in Australia before the team heads to Ruka, Finland, to commence their northern hemisphere winter campaign.

Winter Olympic Games hopefuls Brodie Summers and Nicole Parks scored upset victories in the James Boag’s ABOM Mogul Challenge, the last event of the Suzuki National Snowsport Championships, at Victoria’s Mt Buller today.

Summers and Parks, both Australian Institute of Sport / NSW Institute of Sport athletes, turned the tables on the two pre-event favourites, fellow AIS / NSWIS skiers Matt Graham and Britt Cox.

Graham, who has won the last four ABOM events, was chasing a record equalling fifth victory but had to be content with second place ahead of NSWIS athlete Rohan Chapman-Davies in third.

Parks added a second ABOM trophy to a previous win in this event in 2009 with a narrow 13-12 win over second placed NSWIS athlete Madii Himbury.

While in many ways it was a surprise that Cox, with two World Cup podium finishes to her name, did not win her fourth consecutive ABOM, it was an even bigger shock that Cox failed to win through to the final.

Cox lost a tight semi-final dual with Himbury, with Cox relegated to third after winning the consolation final.

Summers, who signalled his strong potential with a seventh place in the mogul World Championships earlier this year, said that the win is a direct result of the support provided to him through the Olympic Winter Institute program.

“After I qualified for the national team to work with our coach Steve Desovich, Jerry Grossi and everybody else in the support team, it’s been massive. They have invested a lot into me this year and I have been trying to capitalise on it as much as I can,” Summers said.

“Since I had my best results of seventh in the single moguls and ninth in the duals at the World Championships in Norway, I’ve been training as hard as I can although the job is not done until the Olympics are over.”

Summers admitted that it was difficult lining up against Graham, who is a close friend as well as a fellow AIS / NSWIS athlete sharing the same goals.

“It sucks when you beat your best mate sometimes but you do what you have to do and that is what sport is sometimes,” he said.
Summers admitted that he felt a little more disappointment for Graham given that his mate was trying to win the ABOM for a fifth consecutive year.

“I think that made it a little tougher. I actually apologised to him when we shook hands at the bottom. I felt bad for taking away his record but we all wanted it really bad out here today.

“Winning today is a real confidence boost in the lead up to the Olympics, especially when the win was against somebody like Matt Graham. His turns are in a class of the best in the world.”

Australian Institute of Sport / NSW Institute of Sport athlete Sam Hall took another step towards fulfilling his Olympic dream when he finished with a personal best sixth place in the World Freestyle Ski Championships dual moguls event in Voss, Norway.

The 24-year-old Hall won his first dual against Sweden’s Ludvig Fjallstroim, after qualifying in eighth, and advanced to the quarter finals.

Unfortunately for the Australian, he was then drawn against the eventual winner Alex Bilodeau, who brought Hall’s day to an end.

Canadian Mikael Kingsbury, was second and American Patrick Deneen took third place.

However, as the best finishing Australian, coupled with strong performances in the last two weeks, Hall can be highly pleased with the result.

Given that Hall missed last season with a knee injury, he has made significant progress towards living up to the promise he showed several years ago.

It was only a little more than 10 days ago that Hall achieved a then World Cup personal best, an eighth place in Japan, which has now been improved in a field boasting every current top class moguls skier in the world.

Hall was one of four Australian squad members who progressed to the finals.

NSWIS skier Brodie Summers extended his “purple patch” by making the finals with a very strong fourth place, but unlike Hall, he was unable to win his quarter final dual against Fin Jimi Salonen and ended the day in a very impressive ninth place.

In the women’s draw, teenager Britt Cox and fellow AIS / NSWIS scholarship holder Nicole Parks both made the finals to finish in eighth and 16th. Cox won her first dual but went down to the eventual silver medallist Miki Ito in a quarter final.

The women’s event was won by Canadian Chloe Dufour-Lapointe, with American Hannah Kearney in third.

The only member of the Australian squad not to make finals was Matt Graham.

Following an outstanding fourth place in the first of the two moguls events in Voss, Graham made an uncharacteristic mistake going into a jump during the qualification session for finals. The error ended his chances of recording another top finish.

AIS moguls skiing program head coach Steve Desovich labeled the day as “a very solid result and we’d always take a day like today.”

“Sam has worked very hard to get back from injury but I would also like to acknowledge the great work by OWIA/NSWIS sport scientist John Marsden and Coach Peter Topalovic from NSWIS who have worked closely with Sam and have played a huge part in his return.”

With Hall and Summers continuing their northern hemisphere campaign in Sweden and Spain after the World Championships while the other squad members return to Australia to begin their year of preparation for the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games in Russia, Desovich is able to reflect very positively on the season.

“This season can be described as very good,” Desovich said.

“The highlights were Britt Cox’s third place in Lake Placid and her fourth in Kreischberg, Austria, along with her 10th place here in the World Championships, and if you combine all of those, that’s a solid performance.

“Also Matt Graham’s seventh place in Sochi and the fourth place here, they’re simply fantastic results as very often the youngest finalist in the men’s competition.”

Eighteen-year-old Australian Matt Graham has achieved the first major milestone in a burgeoning career which has significantly improved since finishing secondary school last year to become a full time skier when he finished fourth with a P.B in the mogul skiing event at the World Freestyle Ski Championships in Voss, Norway.

The Australian Institute of Sport / NSW Institute of Sport scholarship holder delivered the run of his career, prompting high praise from AIS moguls ski program head coach Steve Desovich, who described Graham’s result as a “landmark performance.”

Graham, one of three Australian men in the top 11 places, and the youngest of the top 18 athletes in the finals, has always believed that with time he can challenge the world’s best and showed why he has held that self-belief.

While Graham held the limelight on a bright day for Australian moguls skiing, 20-year-old NSWIS athlete Brodie Summers, who has competed in only three World Cup events, surprised many by finishing seventh on the world’s second biggest stage.

Summers’ brilliant result eclipsed his best World Cup result of 32nd, which was recorded in January 2011.

AIS / NSWIS skier Sam Hall finished in 11th, after qualifying in sixth place, to become the third Australian man to record an impressive result.

In the women’s draw teenager Britt Cox lived up to expectations with a top 10 place, a career best at World Championships, while fellow AIS / NSW athlete Nicole Parks was 18th, having made the cut in qualifying and in to the finals.

The men’s title was won by Canadian Mikael Kingsbury, who captured his first World Championships crown, ahead of Alex Bilodeau while American Patrick Deneen was third.

American Hannah Kearney won the women’s title, with Japan’s Miki Ito second and Canadian Justine Dufour-Lapointe third.

After posting results of 27th, 38th and 25th in the first three events of the season, Graham and Desovich devised a simple plan that has blossomed into the teenager’s proudest moment, in the year’s biggest event, which is surpassed in prestige only by the Winter Olympic Games.

Competing in his first full northern hemisphere winter since finishing secondary school last year, Graham realised that an old sporting cliché, of taking it one day at a time, was the key to living up to his potential and kick-starting his promising career.

Desovich said that he is thrilled by Graham’s result and congratulated him on his work ethic and the way he has relentlessly adopted their plan.

“In December he had to dig himself out by the bootstraps,” Desovich said.

“At that point we said to him ‘all you can do is go out and ski the next day and take it one day at a time, one run at a time, one gym session at a time’.

“He was able to claw his way back. He had a 25th, which doesn’t sound like much, but it was a good run. In Calgary he gets a 19th, so he takes another little step. Then in Deer Valley he gets that 10th, in Sochi he gets a 7th and it led all the way to this point.

“He’s slowly gotten himself into a good groove. “

Graham showed right from the start that these Championships would provide the result he was looking for when he recorded a top 10 qualification score, before finishing in sixth place in the first final, largely because of a strong turns score, which was the second best in the high quality field.

Graham’s first final score enabled him to progress to the six-man super final, a career first, guaranteeing him his best ever result even before this stage of the competition started.

He moved to fourth on the final run, a brilliant result for the teenager.

Australian Institute of Sport / NSW Institute of Sport mogul skier Sam Hall has placed the best of the Australian athletes in the dual mogul event in Deer Valley, USA.

Hall’s 18th place was a World Cup career best result for the Perisher based athlete since debuting in February 2009.

He was unlucky not to qualify for the final, missing the 16-man cut by just 0.7 of a point.

Australia's highest ranked mogul skiers, Britteny Cox and Matthew Graham, both 18-years-olds, finished 19th and 23rd respectively.

Cox’s desire to make her fourth final from six starts suffered from a lower than preferred score with turns, however, she can be pleased that her speed down the hill, one of the areas she has been working on this year, was impressive.

Fellow AIS / NSWIS skier Nicole Parks also had a tough day in 34th, while NSWIS athlete Taylah O’Neill did not finish.

Talented Australian teenagers Matt Graham and Britt Cox both recorded top 10 finishes in World Cup mogul skiing at Deer Valley, in the United States.

It was a World Cup personal best for Graham, who is competing in his first full season in the northern hemisphere series, as well as the first time this year that Australia was represented in the men’s and women’s finals at a World Cup level.

Graham’s 10th place in the massive field of 73 competitor saw the Australian Institute of Sport / NSW Institute of Sport athlete’s world ranking jump 13 places to 23.

Cox also finished in 10th, her third top 10 after five rounds of competition.

Cox and Graham have the opportunity to back up these results and further build their seasons when they compete in dual moguls at Deer Valley in two days.

Graham finished behind Canadian duo Mikael Kingsbury and Alex Bilodeau in first and second, with American Patrick Deneen taking the other podium placing.

The women’s event was an all American podium finish, with Hannah Kearney, Heather McPhie and Eliza Outrim finishing in first, second and third places.

Cox, ranked 8th in the world, said that her impressive results this season are directly linked to becoming a more consistent skier.

“Today I had a really clean run but I have more in the tank for Saturday and I’m looking for another top 10,” Cox said.

“My skiing across the board is a lot more consistent so I have been able to improve each element of my skiing which has meant that I have been able to get into a few more finals and a few more top 10 finishes.

“This season is going well for me.”

Graham said that finishing 10th has reinforced his belief that he can challenge the world’s best mogul skiers.

“I am really happy with my result today,” he said.

“To achieve better results each week has been one of my main goals this season.

“I’ve been trying to improve all my tricks and I think today’s result showed that.”

“I have thought for a while that I can compete with these guys and today showed it.”

Other Australian results included Nicole Parks, 23rd, Sam Hall 31st, Rohan Chapman-Davies 32nd, James Matheson 34th and Brodie Summers 52nd.

Australian teenagers Brit Cox and Matt Graham fell agonisingly short of victory in the opening event of the Suzuki National Moguls Championships at NSW's Perisher resort yesterday.

Skiing in challenging conditions, Cox was a mere 0.06 points behind the winner while Graham fell short by just 0.95 points.

The women's event was won by Japan's Arisa Murato, with compatriot Miki Ito occupying the other podium position.

The men's moguls competition was won by Russian Alexander Smyshyaev ahead of teammate Denis Dolgodvorov in third.

The women's event was a close fought affair with the three top finishers scoring 18.54, 18.48 and 17.68 points, in a three way battle for victory.

Although Cox wanted the win, she is particularly pleased with the way she skied.

The Australian Institute of Sport/NSW Institute of Sport athlete was the benchmark with her turns, with a point advantage over Murato, and went close to earning the judges' top marks with jumps.

However, the difference between winning and coming second was Murato's speed down the mountain, which has become the hallmark of the Japanese team.

Snow speed has been a focal point for Cox's on-going development and she has been working hard with AIS mogul skiing program head coach Steve Desovich.

"Considering the conditions, there was an improvement but hopefully I can go a bit bigger again and faster in the second competition," Cox said.

"I have a few things I want to work on but overall I was pretty pleased with the way I skied."

Fellow AIS/NSWIS skier Graham was close to Smyshyaev with speed, the Australian matched the Russian with jumps points but was unable to match the winner with turns.

NSWIS athletes David Graham and Sam Hall were also impressive, finishing in fifth and sixth places, a strong result given the quality of the 49 men competing from Australia and overseas.