Chloé Dufour-Lapointe was top Canadian woman in seventh
Mikael Kingsbury in action last year at the Ruka competition
KUUSAMO, FINLAND (December 10, 2011) – The king is back, and he’s wearing the yellow leader’s bib. Canadian Mikael Kingsbury won the inaugural FIS Freestyle Mogul World Cup of the season today.
“It feels pretty crazy to wear the yellow bib,” said Kingsbury, “It feels like a dream come true. It’s not just being on the World Cup podium, it’s wearing the bib of the number one on the World Cup. I’ve always dreamed of that and now it happened. I’m not going to give it up without a fight.”
The 19-year-old from Deux-Montagnes Quebec easily took the win in the new FIS mogul format today, with a final round score of 25.00. Sho Kashima of the US was second at 21.71 and France’s Anthony Benna took the bronze medal at 16.28.
It was a cold, windy and dark day at the Ruka ski resort, but that didn’t scare off Kingsbury who said he felt a little nervous before his qualification run, but added, “I knew what I had to do. I knew I needed to ski fast and I knew I didn’t need my biggest tricks to make finals.” Instead of pulling out his double back full and his cork 1080, Kingsbury downgraded to his reliable back full and cork 720 to win every run of the three-round competition.
It was the first time a scaled-back version of the new FIS Olympic format was used in competition. Instead of the previous format of one qualification run and then one final run, the top four finalists had a third ‘super final’ run, where their scores were rewound to zero, to determine who would earn the top spot.
“Because I was first in the first final heat, I got to ski last in the super final,” explained Kingsbury. “And, from hearing the scores of the other three guys, I knew they had all messed up a little so I didn’t have to push too hard, but I still went full speed on my last run, because for me that’s the easiest way to go.”
Canadian coach Marc-André Moreau said the new format is going to take some getting used to, “In the men’s super final, three of the four guys pushed too hard and had to do old-school tricks, like twister spreads, on the bottom jump. You could see that they’re not used to doing three competition runs in a row, so the level of skiing in the last run for the men and the women was definitely a little lower than we’re used to seeing.”
Other Canadian men in today’s final were Quebec City’s Philippe Marquis who finished an impressive fifth, after a full season off last year, at 23.92. Terrebonne, Quebec native Marc-Antoine Gagnon was 11th at 22.76 and Cedric Rochon from St. Sauveur, Quebec was 15th at 17.19.
Team veteran Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau (Quebec City) finished out the finals at 23rd with a score of 20.47. Langley B.C.’s Eddie Hicks and Quebec City’s Simon Pouliot-Cavanagh did not finish today.
No Canadian women earned a berth into the super final today. Those spots were reserved for: Hannah Kearney of the US, who was first at 24.70; Eliza Outtrim, also of the US who took the silver at 22.25; Nicola Sudova of the Czech Republic who was third at 21.70; and, Yulia Galysheva of Kazakhstan who finished fourth at 21.55.
Montreal’s Chloé Dufour-Lapointe was the top Canadian woman in seventh position at 21.14. She said, “I think I skied well today. When I touched my first mogul on my first run I was a little anxious, but after I made it to the finals the ice was broken and I felt a lot better.”
Dufour-Lapointe was joined in the final by her sister, Maxime, who finished ninth at 20.69 and Spruce Grove, Alberta’s Chelsea Henitiuk who finished 13th at 19.74.
Other Canadian women in today’s event were Rosemere, Quebec’s Beatrice Bilodeau who placed 20th and the third Dufour-Lapointe sister, Justine, who was 31st after some trouble on her first jump. Quebec City’s Audrey Robichaud is still recovering from a back injury and expects to return to competition in the new year.
Overall the Canadian coaches were happy with the team’s first World Cup performance of the season. “We have some new staff and we’re still getting used to working together, I think it as a great start and our results are just going to get better,” said Moreau, who started working with the team in June.
World Cup action resumes on Dec. 20 in Meribel, France with a dual mogul event. The Canadian Men’s Halfpipe Ski Team competes next week at the Dew Tour stop in Breckenridge, CO. For more information or to schedule athlete interviews at these events contact Media Relations Manager Kelley Korbin at: kelleykorbin@freestyleski.com.
– 30 –
MOGULS WORLD CUP
DECEMBER 10, 2011 – RUKA, FINLAND
Complete FIS World Cup Results:
http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/604/1228.html?event_id=29748&cal_suchsector=FS
Top 16 and Canadian Results:
WOMEN
| Position | Name | Nation | Score | |
| 1 | KEARNEY, Hannah | USA | 24.70 | |
| 2 | OUTTRIM Eliza | USA | 22.25 | |
| 3 | SUDOVA Nikola | CZE | 21.70 | |
| 4 | GALYSHEVA Yulia | KAZ | 21.55 | |
| Results from Final Heat 1 | ||||
| 5 | ITO Miki | JPN | 21.61 | |
| 6 | KLOSER Heidi | USA | 21.27 | |
| 7 | DUFOUR-LAPOINTE Chloe | CAN | 21.14 | |
| 8 | MCPHIE Heather | USA | 20.77 | |
| 9 | DUFOUR-LAPOINTE Maxime | CAN | 20.69 | |
| 10 | SCANZIO Deborah | ITA | 20.61 | |
| 11 | OAKLEY K C | USA | 20.31 | |
| 12 | LOWEREE Brittany | USA | 20.02 | |
| 13 | HENITIUK Chelsea | CAN | 19.74 | |
| 14 | COX Britteny | AUS | 17.98 | |
| 15 | WESSEL Hedvig | NOR | 17.04 | |
| 16 | STOLYAROVA Ekaterina | RUS | 10.69 | |
| Results from Qualifications | ||||
| 20 | BILODEAU Beatrice | CAN | 16.88 | |
| 31 | DUFOUR-LAPOINTE Justine | CAN | 13.66 | |
MEN
| Position | Name | Nation | Score | |
| 1 | KINGSBURY Mikael | CAN | 25.00 | |
| 2 | KASHIMA Sho | JPN | 21.71 | |
| 3 | BENNA Anthony | FRA | 16.28 | |
| 4 | DOLGODVOROV Denis | RUS | DNF | |
| Results from Final Heat 1 | ||||
| 5 | MARQUIS Philippe | CAN | 23.92 | |
| 6 | COTA Jeremy | USA | 23.66 | |
| 7 | REIHERD Dmitriy | KAZ | 23.64 | |
| 8 | KIRAMO Arttu | FIN | 23.46 | |
| 9 | WILSON Bradley | USA | 23.45 | |
| 10 | DENEEN Patrick | USA | 23.42 | |
| 11 | GAGNON Marc-Antoine | CAN | 22.76 | |
| 12 | VANHALA Veli-Valtteri | FIN | 22.74 | |
| 13 | SHIMBUEV Sergei | RUS | 21.79 | |
| 14 | ANDERSEN Tevje Lie | NOR | 20.42 | |
| 15 | ROCHON Cedric | CAN | 17.19 | |
| 16 | NISHI Nobuyuki | JPN | 15.28 | |
| Results from Qualifications | ||||
| 23 | ROUSSEAU, Pierre-Alexandre | CAN | 20.47 | |
| DNF | HICKS, Eddie | CAN | ||
| DNF | POULIOT CAVANAGH, Simon | CAN | ||
For more information or to arrange for interviews contact CFSA Media Relations Manager Kelley Korbin.
– 30 –
About the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association
The Canadian Freestyle Ski Association is the governing body in Canada for the sport of Freestyle Skiing. Our mission is to develop, in a safe, fun and ethical manner, Olympic and World Champions in all disciplines of the sport of Freestyle Skiing