Canada’s Kingsbury Wins World Cup Moguls Opener, Claims 34th Gold Medal on Circuit

RUKA, Finland — Canadian freestyle ski star Mikael Kingsbury opened the World Cup moguls season Saturday by winning his 34th gold medal on the circuit. The reigning World Cup champion from Deux-Montagnes, QC posted a score of 84.26 to comfortably finish ahead of Australia’s Matt Graham (80.30).
Benjamin Cavet of France was third with 80.11 points.

Kingsbury’s 34th gold medal added to the record for most career World Cup titles he set last season.
This season is especially important to Kingsbury because it sets up his run to the 2018 Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea, where he hopes to win his first Olympic gold.

Quebec City’s Philippe Marquis was sixth and Marc-Antoine Gagnon of Terrebonne, QC was 10th.
Canada was kept off the podium in the women’s event, with Olympic champion Justine Dufour-Lapointe of Montreal coming closest with a fourth-place finish with 69.71 points.

Britteny Cox of Australia was first with 73.91 points, followed by Perrine Laffont of France (73.13) and Keaton McCargo of the United States (71.78).

Maxime Dufour-Lapointe was eighth, Quebec City’s Audrey Robichaud ninth, and Chloe Dufour-Lapointe 10th.