FREESTYLE: 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 Friday. 

After more than three years out of 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. 

The 2006 Olympic champion and 2010 silver medallist produced his best turns of the season but his score of 23.13 was not high enough to progress to the second final between the top six skiers. 

The event was dominated by Canadians with Mikael Kingsbury, 2010 Olympic champion Alex Bilodeau and Marc-Antoine Gagnon grabbing first, second and third. 

In the women’s event, 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. 

Cox, who won the qualification session in the first event of the season before placing fourth and seventh in the second event of the season, finished behind the winning American Hannah Kearney, Canadian Chloe Dufour-Lapointe in second and sister Justine Dufour-Lapointe in the bronze medal place. 

The Victorian who was the youngest competitor at the Vancouver Olympics said she is looking forward to the next event for several reasons. Apart from aiming to address a few details from her performance today, she wants to ski well for several special people in the crowd on Sunday (Australian time). 

“I'm very excited to have my Mum, Dad and brother coming to watch the second competition,” Cox said. 

“We have a strong contingent of Aussie supporters for both our mogul and aerial teams here in Deer Valley, which we love and appreciate.”

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

Mogul skiing action will continue at Deer Valley in 48 hours with round four of the World Cup tour.