Troy Murphy of Bethel, one of the emerging faces on the world’s mogul skiing scene, has earned his first overall U.S. championship in the event.
The 22-year-old Gould Academy graduate, who last year was named the International Ski Federation’s rookie of the year after two top-five finishes in World Cup competition, mastered the Voodoo mogul run at Steamboat Resort in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, to pace the field of 16 competitors in the USANA U.S. Freestyle Championships held over the weekend.
“I’m really happy with the win,” said Murphy, who had placed 11th in the world championships held in mid-January in Austria.
”I like coming to this event because I get to see all my old buddies that I grew up skiing with, so to do well in front of all of them is awesome. To ski well against all our teammates — we have an awesome team — is an accomplishment so I’m really happy.”
Hannah Kearney of Norwich, Vermont, won the U.S. women’s mogul championship for the fourth time.
Known for his high degree of difficulty on the jumps, Murphy completed a huge double full on the top air and a cork 10 on the bottom of the course in the final.
“I think it’s important for skiers to up the difficulty with their jumps,” he said. “I haven’t really formed an opinion on how it should be done yet. My outlook is whatever the highest level you can do, I’m going to try and do it. So hopefully we can up it for next year. For me, I just want to win, and to do that I have to do my best every time. That’s what I’ve tried to do all season and today it really worked.”
Veteran Jeremy Cota of Carrabassett Valley also was entered in the men’s field but recorded a did-not-finish result.
