By USSA

CALGARY, Alberta -– World Cup Champion Hannah Kearney (Norwich, Vt.) earned a second-place finish on a steep and icy Calgary moguls course Saturday, while Patrick Deneen (Cle Elum, WA) took third, his first FIS World Cup podium of the Olympic season.

On Saturday Kearney also became the first U.S. athlete to achieve two top-three finishes required for Olympic qualification.

Athletes will be gunning for podium spots harder than ever at the Visa Freestyle International at Deer Valley Jan. 9-11.

Sho Kashima (Stateilne) earned a fifth-place finish, proving his mental strength after he injured his knee last season on the same run, while Heather McPhie (Bozeman, Mont.) placed sixth.

Canadians Mikael Kingsbury and Justine Dufour-Lapointe won the men’s and women’s events. Kearney and Dufour-Lapointe are tied in FIS points and will both wear the yellow bib at the Visa Freestyle International at Deer Valley.

Single-digit temperatures and course conditions were a factor for all the athletes, preventing most from skiing confidently on the slick, icy snow.