Canada’s Kingsbury extends World Cup win streak with moguls victory in Calgary

On the women’s side, Justine Dufour-Lapointe of Montreal, picked up a bronze medal, finishing behind Australia’s Britteny Cox and France’s Perrine Laffont.

Andi Naude, of Pentiction, B.C., placed fourth.

“Starting out 2018 on the podium means so much,” said Dufour-Lapointe, the gold medallist from the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. “It was really a fun day. I’ve done everything to be back on the podium. I’m proud and happy of myself.”

But even Dufour-Lapointe was blown away by Kingsbury’s latest performance, one that gives him 67 medals — including 46 golds — in 84 World Cup starts.

Gesturing at the superstar, who was sitting on the podium, engaged in a post-race phone interview, she raved to reporters.

“We’re (seeing) something right now that won’t happen for years, and we may not realize it,” Dufour-Lapointe said. “It won’t ever happen (again). So, guys, focus on that. This is amazing.

“I’ve known Mik since I was eight years old. He was always one of a kind. That makes him special.”

In a stellar display of racing by the men’s top three qualifiers, Australia’s Matt Graham posted a score of 83.23 to move into first place during the final run.

Dmitriy Reikherd of Kazakhstan obliterated that, wrenching away the lead with his 86.43 before Kingsbury rattled off an 89.55-point run, producing a roar from an appreciative crowd.

“It kind of got my heartbeat going a bit fast and my legs started shaking a bit,” said the 25-year-old. “I took some deep breaths and was just, like, ‘Focus on doing a good run.’”

“That was probably one of the best runs we’ve seen in our life,” said Marc-Andre Moreau, high-performance director for Freestyle Canada. “It was like, ‘Wow. OK. This is amazing.’ He just pushes the envelope all the time. The guy has really mastered his art.

“I watch the training and what he’s doing, but what he did in the final run is like one step beyond. It’s amazing.”

Kingsbury came short of declaring it his best-ever moment, but he did allow that it was “pretty clutch.”

Yet he’s not satisfied.

“I still want to be better at everything,” said Kingsbury. “There’s technical stuff … but I’m (going) in the right direction, for sure, and I’m creating great momentum.”

National team members and staff travel to Deer Valley, Utah, on Sunday to prepare for two days of World Cup moguls racing on Wednesday and Thursday. The pre-Olympic portion of the schedule finishes Jan. 20 in Mont-Tremblant, Que.

The team for the Winter Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, will be named after that. Kingsbury, Dufour-Lapointe and Naude are already qualified.

Moreau said he likes what he’s seeing after Saturday’s performances.

“It really meets the expectation,” he said. “The goal right now is to have our athletes — at least one guy, one girl — on the podium at each event. That’s kind of a general goal.

“But right now, the real goal is to really push all the athletes to their limit. We’re trying to put the pieces together on each athlete, so they’re going to be at their max performance level when we’re at the Games.”

Scott Cruickshank, The Canadian Press

by Canadian Press

Canada’s Kingsbury extends World Cup win streak with moguls victory in Calgary

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