Mikael Kingsbury matched the FIS Freestyle record here on the 2002 Olympic course tonight with his sixth-straight mogul win and a score of 25.90.
“I think that was my most satisfying win of my career,” said the 19-year-old, explaining, “In Deer Valley it’s like the Super Bowl of skiing. It’s a hard course, it’s a night event and there’s a huge crowd. I’m so stoked to win here.”
Kingsbury, who qualified second to his teammate Alex Bilodeau, also skied second in the Super Final, behind Bilodeau.
“It was good for me to have this order, I could see Alex ski and he was going so fast he was like a runaway train and it just motivated me to ski hard,” said the Deux-Montagnes native.
With the win, Kingsbury matched the American Jeremy Bloom’s 2005 record of most men’s mogul World Cup wins in a row, at six.
Olympic Champion Bilodeau, who has been on partial hiatus this year, competing only in select events, took the silver medal tonight with a score of 25.60.
“With all the new things I’ve been working on in my training; trying to improve my turns and go even faster, I am not feeling 110 percent comfortable yet,” said Bilodeau. “So I was happy with my finals run where I nailed my turns and both my jumps. But, in the super final I made a couple of mistakes in the middle section and I had too much speed and was a bit out of control, but even with that I came second, so I’m happy with where I’m going,” said Bilodeau, who hails from Rosemere, Que. and is currently focusing on his business school studies as much as his mogul skiing.
Vinjar Slatten of Norway was third at 25.05 and American Patrick Deneen was fourth at 23.82.
Marc-Antoine Gagnon of Terrebonne, Que. finished the night in 5th spot; Cedric Rochon of St. Sauveur was 9th and Philippe Marquis of Quebec City was 11th.
Canadian men who did not make finals included Langley, B.C.’s Eddie Hicks who was 18th and Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau of Drummondville, Que. who was 41st.
On the women’s side, the Canadians were shut out of the super final and the night belonged to American Hannah Kearney who won her 13th-straight World Cup with a score of 25.21.
Heather McPhie, also of the US, was second at 24.77 and Australia’s Britney Cox won her first FIS Freestyle medal in third place at 22.84 – it was Australia’s first women’s moguls medal in World Cup history.
Heidi Kloser of the US rounded out the super final with a score of 14.94 after a fall.
Montreal’s Chloe Dufour-Lapointe was the top Canadian in fifth spot. She said she was very happy with her finish here because she has been working with new coaches and working on revamping many details in her skiing, particularly her turn technique.
Other Canadian women in the final included Quebec City’s Audrey Robichaud who was 7th; Spruce Grove, Alta’s Chelsea Henitiuk who was 8th; and, Montreal’s Maxime Dufour-Lapointe in 14th.
Montreal’s Justine Dufour-Lapointe did not make finals, she was 23rd.
World Cup action continues here with an aerials event on Friday and dual moguls on Sunday, where Kingsbury will have a chance to create a record of most FIS Mogul World Cup wins in a row for a man.
