Australian mogul skier Dale Begg-Smith has ended the 2006 World Cup season in emphatic style, claiming his sixth victory for the year in Apex, British Columbia.

The 21-year-old Olympic champion posted the first 27 point score of his career, earning 27.04 points from the judges to take the gold ahead of Warren Tanner of Canada on 26.84 points, with Guilbaut Colas of France in third place on 26.27 points.

Taking into account the gold medal he won in Torino, Begg-Smith ended the season with seven victories and two minor medals, missing the podium just three times in 12 starts.

His World Cup total for the season was a massive 821 points, 315 points ahead of nearest rival Alexandre Bilodeau of Canada.

As has been the case throughout the season, Begg-Smith's turns points gave him the edge over the opposition in the World Cup final, but this time he also registered the fastest time down the course.

"Dale's turns were exceptional once again," said Olympic Winter Institute head moguls coach Steve Desovich.

"He was very fast today, and the landings of his jumps were just about perfect as well."

"With the format of the competition here, skiers starting in the reverse order of their World Cup points, Dale was the last to go, and just like in the Olympics he had to beat a huge score to get the gold."

"But he did it once again and it was a great way to finish off what has been a brilliant season."

Nikola Sudova of the Czech Republic won the women's event in Apex from Jennifer Heil of Canada, who had wrapped up the women's World Cup title last week.

Jacqui Cooper will be striving to equal the world record of 17 career victories, jointly held by Australia's Kirstie Marshall and Canada's Marie-Claud Asselin, when she competes tonight in Apex.

Courtesy OWI/Sportcom