Sochi to decide Canada’s best in moguls
The fierce but friendly battle between Canadian moguls skiers Alex Bilodeau and Mikael Kingsbury is taking on all the appearances of a classic NHL playoff series.
Only in this case, Game 7 in this best-of-seven, internationally-contested series will be decided in Sochi, with the winner almost certain to take home the sport’s greatest prize, an Olympic gold medal.
The two Quebecers, reigning world champions in moguls (Kingsbury) and dual moguls (Bilodeau) have owned the top of the World Cup podium this season in the thrilling, bumps-and-jumps discipline.
The 21-year-old Kingsbury, who burst onto the scene in a big way the season after the 2010 Olympics by winning six straight events, won the first three events of the 20132014 campaign — Ruka, Finland, Sierra Nevada, Spain and Deer Valley, Utah — with Bilodeau, the 26-year-old 2010 Olympic gold medallist, winning at the last three, including Sunday in Val Saint Come, Que.
“We’re pushing everything in every race,” Kingsbury said in a phone interview. “We’ve been 1-2 a lot this year. I won three World Cups, he’s won three World Cups.
“Game seven is going to be a good one.”
After a gruelling stretch of five events over 16 days, Bilodeau says he’s anxious to get a “well-deserved rest” before he and Kingsbury put everything on the line at Sochi on Feb. 10.
Bilodeau was in a funk after finishing second to Kingsbury at Calgary on Jan. 4, declining post-race interviews and blowing off a previously scheduled national media conference two hours after the event.
Michel Hamelin, his personal coach, said Bilodeau was unhappy with the judging, believing the gap between Kingsbury’s score and his was too large. Moguls is determined by the judges scoring of moguls turns and style and execution on two mid-course jumps, plus finish line time.
After wins in the second event of a back-to-back at Deer Valley and at Lake Placid, N.Y. and Val Saint Come, Bilodeau is suddenly feeling a lot better.
“Great day,” he said in a phone interview. “I’ve just been more and more consistent, doing less and less mistakes on my runs. That’s important going into the Olympics because we’re pushing the limit every time.
“I know there is so much pressure on me, but I’m confident on my skis and I feel very comfortable. I’m not feeling like I’m heading to Sochi as the No. 1. I’m just one of the favourites because Mikael is pushing me so hard.”
Two other Quebecers, Marc-Antoine Gagnon and Philippe Marquis were seventh and eighth, respectively. The result was good enough to put Gagnon on the team headed to Sochi.
Canada also went 1-2 in the women’s moguls Sunday, with Chloe Dufour-Lapointe of Montreal taking gold and her sister, Justine, earning the silver.
Chloe is heading to her second Olympics after finishing ninth in Vancouver in 2010.
“I’m not nervous at all,” she said. “Yeah, for sure it’s the Olympics, it’s going to be big, but I’m expecting this for my second time on the Olympics team.”
LUGE BREAKTHROUGH: Canada picked up three World Cup luge medals on Sunday, including a first ever podium finish for Kimberley McRae of Calgary. It’s the first time Canada has earned three medals on the same day.
Natalie Geisenberger of Germany won the women’s event at Altenberg, Germany, with Canada’s top slider, Alex Gough, of Calgary, finishing second. McRae took advantage of a warm day that slowed the track for some top sliders to grab third.