Freestyle Moguls
Adventure sports expert Tyler Tate is back to offer his betting wisdom for the Men’s and Women’s Freestyle skiing. There may not be longshot value here like he found with Sage Kostenberg but he will get you to the window.
2014 Winter Olympics (Sochi, Russia) – Freestyle Skiing- Men’s Moguls
Michael Kingsbury 4/7
Alexandre Bilodeau 7/5
Patrick Deneen 9/1
Alexandr Smyshlyaev 14/1
Bradley Wilson 33/1
Sho Endo 25/1
Marc-Antoine Gagnon 33/1
Matt Graham 33/1
Dale Begg-Smith 66/1
Analysis
Michael Kingsbury is currently ranked first in the world and rightfully so. Kingsbury has perfect form; knees remain parallel through the entire run and he maintains proper vertical position from hips up. His hand position never bounces and he will win the gold. It is as simple as that.
If Kingsbury wilts, his teammate Alex Bilodeau knows how to beat him. Recently Bilodeau beat Kingsbury at the Freestyle World Cup at Deer Valley and if you don’t read the bib numbers you may mistake them for the same skiier. They are well coached and share similar traits plus Bilodeau is the reigning Gold Medalist in the sport.
Bilodeau is the value bet at 7/5. The pressure is on Kingsbury from Team Canada to medal this year since Bilodeau was the gold medalist last year.
Team USA Skier Pat Deneen has a great shot at getting the gold since the field is incredibly narrow. He is the best Freestyle skier on the men’s side that Team USA has put out since 2002. He has the form and tricks for the two jumps to make him a podium contender.
Best Bet: Michael Kingsbury
Value Bet: Alexandre Bilodeau
Long shot: Patrick Deneen
Dark Horse: Sho Endo
2014 Winter Olympics (Sochi, Russia) – Freestyle Skiing- Women’s Moguls
Hannah Kearney 5/6
Justine Dufour-Lapointe 2/1
Chloe Dufour-Lapointe 13/2
Miki Ito 12/1
Heidi Closer 12/1
Maxime Dufour-Lapointe 18/1
Yulia Galysheva 20/1
Heather McPhie 25/1
Eliza Outtrim 33/1
Britteny Cox 40/1
Aiko Uemura 40/1
Nikola Sudova 50/1
Marika Pertakhiya 50/1
Audrey Robichaud 50/1
Analysis
Hannah Kearney will win this event, Justine Dufour-LaPointe will take second, and in a stunning surprise Eliza Outtrim will finish third.
101 World Cup starts, 56 Podiums and 39 wins, Kearney is the best in the sport. With her signature pigtails tucked outside her helmet, Kearney has already placed herself into the finals with a strong showing in qualifiers (first overall). Her form is perfect. She has the best body line, knee form and the biggest tricks on the two quarter pipes.
There are three Dufour-LaPointe sisters, and if it wasn’t for Hannah Kearney, these three could easily sweep the podium event after event. Justine Dufour-LaPointe is the youngest of the three but she is the best. Having two sisters in front of her has helped her navigate the water of things to do and what not to do. Her learning curve was short and she owes her success to that sibling rivalry. However she’s the closest thing to a hand grenade in the sport meaning she can explode into pieces or explode on the course and win the whole thing.
After placing forth in qualifiers sending her straight to the finals, Eliza Outtrim will be the breakout surprise for Team USA Freeskiing. She has always been a podium contender, but has just now taken a new focus to the games and is dialed in. She spoke about her dream to be in the Olympics at the freestyle world cup in Deer Valley and she spoke that the Olympics has become even more personal and she added a new training regiment pre games. Looks like its working.
Team USA also has a distinct uniform advantage thanks to their new outfits designed by Columbia. Team USA will be wearing white camoflauge pants, which will help hide any flaws with non parallel knees.
Best Bet: Hannah Keaney
Long shot: Eliza Outtrim
