Elizabeth Lemley, Cole McDonald Capture Moguls Podiums In Alpe d’Huez

Cole McDonald competes during the men's moguls final at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 on Feb. 5, 2022 in Zhangjiakou, China.

The teenage takeover on the U.S. moguls team continued Friday as Elizabeth Lemley and Cole McDonald each posted third-place finishes to kick off the weekend’s freestyle skiing world cup in Alpe d’Huez, France.
With his third-place finish in men’s moguls, the 19-year-old McDonald reached a world cup podium for the first time. Lenley, 16, was third in women’s moguls after recording her first world cup win — and podium finish — in dual moguls last Sunday in Idre Fjall, Sweden.
They were among seven Americans who recorded top-10 finishes Friday, with another opportunity coming Saturday when dual moguls events are held.
Australia’s Jakara Anthony continued her tear to start the 2022-23 season by posting her third women’s moguls win in three world cups so far. The reigning Olympic gold medalist easily outscored the field on Friday with 79.70 points.
Lemley, who is from Vail, Colorado, placed second in Thursday’s qualifying round and nearly matched her score Friday, but her 74.75 points couldn’t quite catch the 75.81 put up by France’s Perrine Laffont, the 2018 Olympic champ.
Lemley made her world cup debut earlier this year and won the junior world title in March en route to being named FIS Rookie of the Year.
On the men’s side, veteran Japanese skier Ikuma Horishima scored his first win of the season with 82.66 points, followed by Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury with 80.85 and McDonald with 75.17. Kingsbury and Horishima won the silver and bronze medals, respectively, at the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022.
McDonald, a 2022 Olympian from Park City, Utah, had been inching toward his first world cup podium, having finished fourth in dual moguls and fifth in moguls in Idre Fjall. He is also a former junior world champion in the event.
Meanwhile, fellow 2022 Olympian Nick Page, who was first in moguls and third in dual moguls last weekend, took fifth on Friday. Among the other top-10 finishers for the U.S. were Olympic silver medalist Jaelen Kauf (sixth), Tess Johnson (seventh) and Alli Macuga (10th) on the women’s side, and Dylan Walczyk (eighth) for the men.