Canada’s Kingsbury puts lock on World Cup moguls crown
Another year, another overall World Cup freestyle ski title for Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury.
The 22-year-old native of Deux-Montagnes, Que., won his sixth straight World Cup moguls event Saturday to clinch his fourth overall title. The victory left Kingsbury just one short of the all-time record of 27 held by France’s Edgar Grospiron.
“I have Grospiron’s record in the back of my head and I feel like it motivates me,” Kingsbury said.
“I really just want to go out and enjoy myself because that’s when I feel like I ski at my best.
“That’s my plan, to go out and have fun. The motivation is already there to get that record. Winning the Crystal Globe is always a special moment, too. It feels great to know that I did my job and guaranteed the title with two World Cups still to go.”
Kingsbury received 88.17 points to improve to 629 points in the overall standings, 288 ahead of Alexandr Smyshlyaev of Russia.
American Jeremy Coto finished second with 86.33 points. Smyshlyaev was third with 81.61. “I wasn’t as confident going into this event as I usually am based on the training I had (Friday),” Kingsbury said.
It was an historic achievement in the women’s event for Audrey Robichaud. The Quebec City native became the first Canadian female mogul skier to start 100 career world Cup events and celebrated by finishing third with 77.41 points.
The podium finish was the seventh of Robichaud’s career and fourth in Japan. Alex Anne-Gagnon of Terrebonne, Que., was a career-best sixth.
“The day turned out great, even with the weather conditions not being ideal,” Robichaud said.
“I had the fact that it was my 100th World Cup start in the back of my head, but I really tried to treat it like any other event.”
American Hannah Kearney won the women’s event to solidify her lead in the standings. Kearney received 79.12 points to edge Japan’s Junko Hoshino, who was second with 78.04.
Justine Dufour-Lapointe of Montreal finished in 22nd place and trails Kearney by 114 points.