Lemley on the podium again in Alpe D’Huez World Cup mogul competition

Ski and Snowboard Club Vail’s Elizabeth Lemley earned her second straight mogul podium on Friday in Alpe D’Huez, France. The 16-year-old placed third in the World Cup competition, which was won by Australia’s Jakara Anthony. Perrine Laffont of France rounded out the podium in second and SSCV alumna Tess Johnson was seventh as four American women finished in the top 10. On the men’s side, SSCV alumnus Dylan Walczyk placed eighth.

Lemley has gotten her 2022-23 campaign off to a hot start. She placed seventh in the Ruka, Finland, season opener on Dec. 3 and fifth in the Idre Fjall, Sweden moguls competition on Dec. 10. The following day, she won the dual moguls competition in Idre Fjall, her first career World Cup win. On Thursday, she posted the second best score in the qualification round, just 0.07 points behind the Olympic champion, Anthony.

In the first run of Friday’s finals, Anthony posted the top mark (80.68) as American Olympic silver medalist Jaelin Kauf (78.56) sat in second, Laffont (77.80) in third and Lemley in fourth (77.03). Johnson’s 73.27 was good for seventh but just out of the top-6 necessary for super-final qualification.

Lemley was fast all day. In run No. 1, she was behind only Kauf for speed, and in run No. 2, she earned the most time points in, blitzing the bumps in 22.58 seconds. In the super-final, she also garnered 45.70 points on turns, and 13.48 points on her aerial packages to slide into third with a 74.75, right behind Laffont (75.81), and Anthony (79.70), who was the final athlete to contest a run. A mistake by Kauf resulted in a sixth-place finish (47.07).

Lemley is currently third in the moguls/dual moguls overall standings, first in dual moguls, and fourth in moguls. Johnson is 13th, 11th, and 14th in those respective categories. The Alpe d’Huez World Cup continues with dual moguls on Sunday before a multi-week holiday break. The action returns in 2023 in Val St. Come, Canada on Jan. 27-28.