Moguls, Men

Expatriate Canadian and defending Olympic champion from Australia Dale Begg-Smith was the favorite coming into the Men’s Moguls, having made a great comeback from an injury midway through the previous season. Although he was ranked #1 in the world, there were several notable challengers for Olympic gold in 2010, including Finland’s Mikko Ronkainen (2006 Olympic silver medalist) and Tapio Luusua (2009 World Championship silver medalist) and Patrick Deneen of the United States (2009 World Championship gold medalist). The placings after the qualifying round were scattered: France’s Guilbaut Colas was first, Canada’s Alexandre Bilodeau was second, Begg-Smith was fourth, Deneen was tenth, and Ronkainen was twentieth, just barely hitting the cutoff for qualification, a mark missed by Luusua.

Deneen’s crash into the gates on the landing hill and Ronkainen’s lackluster run left the top four qualifiers (which included Bryon Wilson of the United States) as the most likely podium finishers. An impressive run by Begg-Smith left him at the front of the pack, and Wilson came in right behind him, assuring the Australian a medal. Bilodeau followed next and did not disappoint his compatriots, edging out Begg-Smith’s time by 0.55 seconds, the determining factor in his being ranked in the gold medal position. When Colas completed the event with a sixth-place run, Bilodeau became the first Canadian to win an Olympic gold medal on his home turf. When he received his medal the next day, the Canadian flag was raised at a home Olympics to the top level of the flagpole for the first time on the 45th anniversary of the unveiling of Canada’s Maple Leaf Flag, as the nation celebrated Flag Day.