The first Europa Cup mogul event for the NSWIS/SSA Mogul Development team took place over the weekend in Spicak, Czech Republic, with the Australian team making a good start to their campaign.

A large field of 62 athletes took part in both the single and dual mogul events, with the depth and quality of the field the strongest on the circuit for a number of years.

In the single moguls, Andrew Sirianni produced a personal best Europa Cup result, finishing in fourth place. Missing out on the finals were Ramone Cooper (21st), Mark Babbage (25th) and Robert Lovick (39th). The event was won by Ludovic Didier of France.

Mark Babbage was the only Australian to make the 16 man dual mogul final, finishing in 13th place. Competing in his first ever Europa Cup dual event, 15 year-old Robert Lovick narrowly missed out on the final by .17 points. Ramone Cooper finished 20th and Andrew Sirianni in 44th place.

NSWIS/SSA Head Coach Peter 'Toppa' Topalovic was happy with the team's first result. "All of the boys put down good runs in the single moguls, with Andrew Sirianni skiing very strongly," Toppa said. "In dual moguls, Robert Lovick was unlucky not to make the finals, which is a great result in his first ever Europa Cup event."

The team now heads to San Martino Di Castrozza, Italy, for two Europa Cup mogul events on Friday and Saturday and an Italian Cup event on Sunday.

Results

Single moguls (field 62)
4th - Andrew Sirianni
21st - Ramone Cooper
25th - Mark Babbage
39th - Robert Lovick

Dual moguls (field 62)
13th - Mark Babbage
17th - Robert Lovick
20th - Ramone Cooper
44th - Andrew Sirianni