Intro:

Hannah Kearney of the USA maintained her 100 per cent record in this season's women's World Cup moguls singles on Friday (March 9th), topping the podium in Are, Sweden to seal the overall title.

Men's World Cup winner Mikael Kingsbury failed to match Kearney's mark in the men's category, finishing second behind fellow Canadian Philippe Marquis and suffering his first singles defeat of the season.

Script:

The freestyle World Cup season reaches its conclusion in the space of the next two weekends.

Moguls was the discipline of choice as Are in Sweden hosted the first of two days of competition on Friday.

Mikael Kingsbury came into the event with the World Cup crown already assured.

Kingsbury had won all six of the season's previous singles competitions and set the mark on Friday with a final run that received a score of 24.48 points from the judges.

However, Philippe Marquis shocked his compatriot by racking up the highest score of the final.

Marquis topped the podium after picking up 24.48 points, adding a World Cup victory to the joint-second place he claimed in Beida Lake, China - his previous best finish of the season.

Japan's Sho Endo completed the podium places with a score of 24.23 points.

So to the women's final, where Hannah Kearney was aiming to continue her dominant run through the season.

Like Kingsbury, American Kearney had won all of the women's singles moguls events before travelling to Are.

But unlike the Canadian, Kearney did manage to pick up win number seven.

A moguls gold medallist at the Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010, Kearney picked up 25.04 points - 1.51 points more than nearest rival Chloe Dufour-Lapointe in second place.

The freestyle field will remain in Are for Saturday's (March 10th) dual moguls, before Megeve in France stages the final round.