Park City skiers Page, Mickel, and Wendler compete in men’s dual moguls Olympic debut

USA's Dylan Walczyc with a proud American crowd after his 7th place Dual Moguls result in the Milan Cortina Olympics. Photo: TownLift // Michele Roepke

CORTINA, Italy — Dual moguls made its Olympic debut at the Milan Cortina Games on Monday. Park City resident Charlie Mickel led the local results with a sixth-place finish, followed by Nick Page in 15th, and Landon Wendler in 26th.

The gold medal went to Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury, silver to Japan’s Ikuma Horishima, and bronze to Australia’s Matt Graham.

Page finished fifth in the Beijing Olympics, and seventh in last week’s singles event. His mom, Sherry, and dad, Mike, are cheering for him in Italy, alongside longtime neighbors and friends from Park City. “Deer Valley’s where my home has been my whole life,” Page said in the finish area. “I learned to ski on the Champion Run and get to go back there every year for the World Cup. I can say very confidently, I’m not here without Deer Valley, and all that experience I had when I was with Wasatch Freestyle in my younger days.”

Page beat an athlete from Finland in round one, but he was eliminated in a tough next match-up against the eventual silver medalist. Spectators thought Page skiing out of the side of the course in between the Jump 1 and Jump 2, was the drama of that duo. They were soon proven wrong when Horishima, also having trouble staying on course, skied into Page’s empty lane, lost his balance, hit the second jump anyway, landed sideways, and crossed the finish line backwards.

Mickel, who attends the University of Utah, is from Durango, Colorado, and is a first-time Olympian.”It’s awesome to be coached by people that you grew up seeing ski, and special to get feedback from from someone you looked up to.” He referred to his time with Wasatch Freestyle and their Olympian coaching staff, “And they’re there, doing what they can to make you a better skier.” In the second round, Mickel advanced after his Australian opponent, carrying too much speed into the second jump, chose to ski around it rather than attempt a late stop or risky takeoff.

Landon Wendler lives in Park City, is from Steamboat Springs, Colorado, attends the Los Angeles Film School, and is a first-time Olympian. In round one, he was paired against Mickel and speedwise, it was a dead tie. The judges then made the anticipating crowd wait an extraordinarily long time as calculations on turns and air were decided, finally announcing the advancer: Mickel with 23 points to Wendler’s 12.

Kingsbury had previously announced that these would be his last Games. He provided a career summarization in a press conference, saying how he was lucky to ski in five Olympics and come away with five medals. He added that he has a clear recollection of the first time that he watched an Olympics on tv and felt inspired, those Games were Salt Lake City 2002. 

Olympians from Park City, Trace Worthington and Hannah Kearney, are in the NBC commentating booth in Milan Cortina for moguls and aerials. Having nothing but praise for the Italians running a top notch venue, and the competition level at an all-time high, Worthington told TownLift, “Debuting Olympic dual moguls is a highlight. It’s exciting to be able to introduce a different side of mogul skiing to the world. It’s been, so far, one of the most amazing Olympic Games I’ve ever covered.”

Read about the women’s dual moguls debut event.