Will Kingsbury need his cork 1440?
Ace Canadian moguls skier has ace up his sleeve if he needs ‘backflip with four rotations’
A dominant force on the World Cup circuit, Canadian freestyle skier Mikael Kingsbury is a clear favourite to reach the top of the podium at the Winter Games.
But in the event he needs to find another gear in his pursuit of Olympic gold, Kingsbury has an ace up his sleeve.
The 25-year-old from DeuxMontagnes, Que., is confident he could become the first moguls skier to land a cork 1440 jump at the Olympics — if he needed to. He described the difficult off-axis jump as “like a backflip with four rotations.”
“I don’t know how (best) to say it, but it takes balls to try it on a moguls course,” Kingsbury said.
Kingsbury first tried the jump on water in his younger days.
At the time, he didn’t give much thought to using it in competition.
But in the summer of 2016, Kingsbury felt ready to try it on snow. He landed his first attempt and has since nailed it over 50 times in practice.
“There’s not much room for a mistake,” he said. “It’s the kind of trick that if you don’t have a tight connection and the proper wrap for the spin and you don’t have the timing, you won’t spin the four twists in 1.6 seconds. It’s something (that has) to be very precise. I think I have the right body type to do it.
“I spin pretty fast. Sometimes when I get that good connection, I feel I can even twist farther than 1440. I’ve (also) got to be ready to open and stop the rotation pretty fast even though I see nothing,” Kingsbury added.
There are two jump sections on the Olympic moguls course at Phoenix Snow Park. Turning technique will account for half the score and the other half is split between air manoeuvres and speed.
If Kingsbury were to try the cork 1440, it would almost certainly be on the top jump as the chances of a consistent line with proper speed and balance are higher.
“Mik has been on top for a while,” said men’s national mogul coach Rob Kober. “He’s a very talented acrobat. He kind of took on the (cork 1440) as a bit of a side project just to keep things fun for him and give him a little bit of an extra challenge, so we don’t get too stale just doing the same tricks over and over again.”
Kingsbury reckons there are only a few other skiers on the circuit who can land the trick, but he’s confident he’s the only one who could do it on a full Olympic moguls course.
“If I need it, I know I can do it,” he said.
At the Games, 20 athletes will advance from the two qualifying rounds, which go Friday morning prior to the opening ceremony (Thursday night back home). The top 12 skiers from the first elimination round will move on and the top six from the second round will compete in the final.
“There’s a couple kids who might be able to try (the cork 1440) as kind of a Hail Mary,” Kober said. “Mik is in the fortunate position of not needing it.”
Kingsbury has the ability to generate tremendous height with his five-foot-seven 150-pound frame. When coupled with his incredible acrobatic skill, timing, flexibility and balance, he’s an imposing presence on the hill.
“I have a plan in my head with the run that I want to do,” he said in a recent interview. “I think at the Olympics the most important thing is not only to follow the exact plan that I have in my head, but to able to have some flexibility with the weather, the course, with the change of temperature.
“I have a couple runs in my head that I know are possible to do. I know that I’ll be able to win with those kind of runs.”
Kingsbury, who won silver behind now-retired Canadian teammate Alex Bilodeau at the 2014 Sochi Games, is looking for his first Olympic title. He has won six straight World Cup season titles and is on track for a seventh.
“I wish I knew his secret,” said teammate Marc-Antoine Gagnon. “What he is doing is on a different level.”
Kingsbury will also be confident after winning the test event at Pyeongchang last season.
“If he skis his run, he’s in a class by himself,” Kober said.