Kingsbury aiming for one more Cup win
Mikael Kingsbury will try to keep his perfect season intact on the Mont-Tremblant moguls course Saturday in the final freestyle skiing World Cup event before the Winter Olympics.
The moguls ace from Deux-Montagnes, Que., will be gunning for a 14th consecutive victory when the world’s top freestylers return to Mont-Tremblant for the first time in 13 years. Kingsbury has not lost since he finished second in Calgary on Jan. 28, 2017. He has little left to prove, having already passed Americans Hannah Kearney and Donna Weinbrecht for the most career World Cup wins, men and women included, when he swept a pair of events last week in Utah.
He will be going for a 49th career win.
“You know, I don’t need to try to get inside my opponents’ heads anymore,” Kingsbury said. “They know I’m ready.
“This weekend, the main thing is to stay smart on my training runs and conserve energy. I don’t want to get hurt — look at what happened to Philippe (Marquis) — and after that I just have to do what I’ve been doing for weeks now. If I do that, I should get my 14th win in a row.”
Marquis, of Quebec City, tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during training in Utah, putting his Olympic plans in doubt.
Kingsbury qualified for the Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea long ago, but doing well at this World Cup may be crucial for other Canadian skiers. It is a chance for young athletes to make themselves noticed, such as Kerrian Chunlaud of Quebec City, who reached the finals in China earlier this year, and Gabriel Dufresne of Repentigny, Que.
American Jaelin Kauf leads the women’s standings with 420 points. Perrine Laffont of France is second with 369. Andi Naude of Penticton, B.C., is fourth with 305.
Naude has reached every finals this season and is the lone Canadian woman already qualified for Pyeongchang.