THE CANADIAN PRESS
MEGEVE, France – Canadian Mikael Kingsbury isn’t letting his surprise elimination from the men’s dual moguls event Sunday tarnish a season that saw him capture a fourth straight crystal globe.
Kingsbury, 22, was chasing a record 29th moguls title Sunday, which would’ve broken France’s Edgar Grospiron career mark. But Kingsbury was eliminated in the quarterfinals after falling hard in his race against American Bryon Wilson.
“I had a good start, but Wilson had a better one,” said Kingsbury, who finished eighth. “I had to try to catch up and I had a little bad luck along the way.
“I hit one bump the wrong way and I fell before the second jump. I had the wind knocked out of me, but everything is fine. I’m happy the season is over, even if it was one of the best of my career.”
Grospiron set the record in 1995, needing 80 World Cup starts to achieve the feat. By comparison, Kingsbury has registered 28 victories after just 60 races, but says he wasn’t feeling any pressure to break the mark.
“Not at all. I know I’ll break Edgar’s record next season so I didn’t put any pressure on myself for the 29th victory,” he said. “Today, I just wanted to have fun on the course because I knew I’d already won the crystal globe.
“Anyways, I never would’ve thought I’d reach 28 victories already this season.”
The native of Deux-Montagnes, QC won eight gold medals this season, including a record seven straight. While Kingsbury would’ve liked to achieve the milestone this year, he plans to use Sunday’s defeat as motivation for next season.
“It wasn’t my main goal (to break the record), but it’s a good motivation to keep me training hard,” he said. “I won’t change the way I see things nor the way I train.
“I have a winning recipe so I’ll continue, hopefully on the same path all the way to 2018.”
France’s Anthony Benna finished first in his last competition on the Haute-Savoie run, ahead of American Thomas Rowley and Russia’s Alexandr Smyshlyaev.
Quebec City’s Philippe Marquis finished fifth, while Simon Pouliot-Kavanagh, also of Quebec City, was ninth, and Montreal’s Marc-Antoine Gagnon ended up 10th.
In women’s action, Montreal’s Chloe Dufour-Lapointe claimed the silver medal after American veteran Hannah Kearney finished first in the final in what was likely her last race.
“Today, I put the pedal down and I absolutely wanted to be the fastest,” Dufour-Lapointe said. “And there hasn’t been a duel where I’ve been beaten on the clock.”
Dufour-Lapointe marked her fifth podium finish this season, solidifying her third-place finish in the World Cup overall standings. Her sister Justine Dufour-Lapointe was third, her third podium effort of the season, to finish second overall.
Regina’s Andi Naude was fourth Sunday, ahead of Audrey Robichaud of Quebec City and Montreal’s Maxime Dufour-Lapointe. Alex-Anne Gagnon of Terrebonne, QC finished 12th.
