KINGSBURY MOTIVATED
Fails to break record
Quebec’s Mikael Kingsbury isn’t letting his surprise elimination from the men’s dual moguls event Sunday tarnish a season that saw him capture a fourth straight crystal globe.
Kingsbury, 22, was chasing a record 29th moguls title Sunday, which would have broken the career mark of France’s Edgar Grospiron. But Kingsbury was eliminated in the quarter- finals after falling hard in his race against American Bryon Wilson.
“I had a good start, but Wilson had a better one,” Kingsbury, who finished eighth, said. “I had to try to catch up and I had a little bad luck along the way.
“I hit one bump the wrong way and I fell before the second jump. I had the wind knocked out of me, but everything is fine. I’m happy the season is over, even if it was one of the best of my career.”
Grospiron set the record in 1995, needing 80 World Cup starts to achieve the feat. By comparison, Kingsbury has registered 28 victories after just 60 races but says he wasn’t feeling any pressure to break the mark.
“Not at all. I know I’ll break Edgar’s record next season, so I didn’t put any pressure on myself for the 29th victory,” he said. “Today, I just wanted to have fun on the course because I knew I’d already won the crystal globe.
“Anyways, I never would’ve thought I’d reach 28 victories already this season.”
The native of Deux- Montagnes won eight gold medals this season, including a record seven straight. While Kingsbury would have liked to achieve the milestone this year, he plans to use Sunday’s defeat as motivation for next season.
“It wasn’t my main goal ( to break the record), but it’s a good motivation to keep me training hard,” he said.
Quebec City’s Philippe Marquis finished fifth while Simon Pouliot-Kavanagh, also of Quebec City, was ninth and Montreal’s Marc-Antoine Gagnon ended up 10th.
In women’s action, Montreal’s Chloe Dufour- Lapointe claimed the silver medal after American veteran Hannah Kearney finished first in the final in what was likely her last race.
“Today, I put the pedal down and I absolutely wanted to be the fastest,” Dufour- Lapointe said. “And there hasn’t been a duel where I’ve been beaten on the clock.”