Canada sweeps podium in men’s dual moguls
The Alex Bilodeau era is over, but a sweep of a world championship podium led by Mikael Kingsbury shows Canada has not lost a step in freestyle skiing.
Kingsbury, of Deux-Montagnes, Que., won the dual moguls competition by defeating Philippe Marquis of Quebec City Monday while Marc-Antoine Gagnon of Terrebonne, Que., took the bronze medal.
Bilodeau, the gold medallist at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver and the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, has retired to pursue a career in accounting.
“It hasn’t changed much since Alex isn’t there as far as growing and going forward,” Kingsbury said on a conference call. “Alex was an amazing athlete and it was great to share all those moments with him.
“But it didn’t change my approach to competition. I was doing very well when he was there and I still have the same winning formula. It’s working well so far. But, for sure, we miss Alex on tour. He was pretty much always on the podium with us.”
In women’s dual moguls, Olympic champion Justine Dufour-Lapointe of Montreal took silver after losing 29-6 in the final to American veteran Hannah Kearney. Her older sister, Chloe Dufour-Lapointe, was fourth.
For the men, it was the first medals sweep by one country since Finland did it in individual moguls in 1999.
“The three of us were very hungry for a medal,” Kingsbury said. “There’s a bit of luck in that, in duals, you never know who you’re going to go against.
“I could have got Marc or Phil in the first round. But we had a good qualification round and we skied well. It’s teamwork. We always train together and we push each other. The sweep was very close and we did it. It was pretty crazy.”
The 22-year-old said a member of the U.S. team promised to shave a Maple Leaf into his hair if Canada swept the podium. “I can’t wait to see that,” he said. Kingsbury has been at or near the top of his sport, winning three World Cup overall titles, even while Bilodeau was active. But he was second to the Rosemere, Que., skier in dual moguls at the 2011 and 2013 world championships. He also lost to Bilodeau in the individual moguls at the Sochi Olympics.
Getting on a world championship podium was a breakthrough for his teammates.
Gagnon, who finished fourth in Sochi, beat American Sho Kashima for the bronze medal.
Kingsbury defeated Marquis, who was ninth at the 2014 Games, 20-15. He bounced back from losing his individual moguls title Sunday when he was upset in the final by Anthony Benna of France.
It was the opposite for 20-yearold Justine Dufour-Lapointe, who won the individual moguls Sunday, only to lose the duals final after making a mistake on an icy patch on her first run.
“To win the world championship is one of the best feelings an athlete can have,” she said. “Today, I really wanted to give everything I had to win another title, but I finished second. I made an error, but it was a great weekend.”
Yulia Galysheva of Kazakhstan edged defending champion Chloe Dufour-Lapointe 18-17 for the bronze medal. The 23-year-old Chloe Dufour-Lapointe lost to her sister Justine in a semifinal.