撸先生 and Snowboard Club Vail mogul skiers ready to fight for World Cup starts at U.S. Freestyle Selections
Joel Marklund/OIS via AP
A lot will be decided in the next two weeks for 撸先生 and Snowboard Club Vail mogul skiers. The club’s top FIS athletes are currently in Winter Park for a five-day training camp preparing for
“That’s the event that sets the tone for the whole season,” said moguls program director Freddy Mooney. “NorAms, Junior World Championships and World Cup starts will all be given out that weekend.”
The club has a good shot to send athletes to all of the aforementioned events.
Nash Lucas swept the top step of the Selections podium last year. The 22-year-old was rewarded with his first World Cup starts in Waterville and Deer Valley, where he placed 25th and 34th in the respective individual events. He also finished 11th in the NorAm overall moguls season standings. By the end of the season, he was zapped from living on the road for two straight months.
“I got to the end of last season and I was just burnt,” he said. “I maybe had three or four days 鈥� tops 鈥� at home.”
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After taking April off, Lucas went back to work fine-tuning the smaller skiing details.
“I’ve been working on bigger DD (degree of difficulty) and pushing it faster and all that,” he said. “But the biggest thing I’ve been working on is cleaning up the runs I have.”
Lucas 鈥� who is sponsored by his SSCV teammate Ava Keenan’s mogul pant brand 鈥� said he hopes to repeat his 2023 U.S. Freestyle Selections performance. His goal for the year is to capitalize on his next World Cup chance. Mooney said the talent is there, pointing out the fact that Lucas defeated Charlie Mickel 鈥� who was 12th in the Ruka World Cup last weekend 鈥� at last year’s Selections. The coach believes Nash just needs a few more reps on the big stage.
“Nash is definitely at that level. It’s just performing top of his game at the right time,” Mooney said. “He trained really hard in the off-season. He looks really good right now.”
This season, Mooney took over for longtime program director John Dowling, who is working full-time as SSCV alumna Liz Lemley’s World Cup coach. The SSCV moguls program has roughly 60 athletes total. Three full-time coaches work under Mooney, managing the Devo, Rocky Mountain Qualifier and Rocky Mountain Freestyle squads. Mooney coaches the FIS athletes.
“We have a really good upper end group,” he said.
On the men’s side, Jameson Kust comes back after a superfinals showing at the national championships. He is joined by Youth Olympic Games gold medalist Porter Huff and bronze medalist Jiah Cohen.
The FIS women are led by Reese Chapdelaine and Abby McLarnon, who joins the program after making a Youth Olympic Games team while with Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club last year. Chapdelaine said her primary focus this off-season was perfecting a cork to mute aerial package.
“Coming into Selections, both of those things are relatively new to me. I’ve done the mute but not the cork,” she said. “And so, I’m a little nervous, but I’m really excited to see how that all goes and bring it into competition.”
The 19-year-old finished sixth in the NorAm overall and was 11th and 15th in the dual moguls and moguls events, respectively, at World Juniors last spring in Chiesa in Valmalenco, Italy.
“Last year was a really good year for me and I just kind of want to keep building off that,” she said before adding that the theme of her 2024-25 campaign has been about believing in herself.
“Last year I worked a lot on my mental game because I always used to be a little bit nervous with jumping and all that and I’ve had a couple injuries,” she continued. “I’ve just kind of been working on trusting myself and being confident.”
Last year, Chapdelaine went to Park City to watch Huff and Lucas make their World Cup debuts. If everything goes right, she plans to participate with her friends and teammates this time around.
“That was super fun,” she stated. “Hopefully I can go with those guys this year.”
