Julien Viel was the only Canadian to advance to the dual moguls quarter-finals on Saturday at the Alpe d’Huez World Cup. Mikaël Kingsbury for his part had a more difficult day in France, excluded from the top-16 for the first time since 2010.
Viel took on Swede Filip Gravenfors, who impressed many last week with his speed in the final against Mikaël Kingsbury.
The 21-year-old fell on landing his first jump and could not complete his descent and finished at 15e rank of this test. He had started his career by winning against the French Arthur Offel de Villaucourt and ahead of the Finn Jimi Salonen.
The skier from Mont-Sainte-Anne is in his first World Cup season. Last weekend, in Sweden, he was ranked 13e parallel bumps.
The Japanese Ikuma Horishima concretized his double in Alpe d’Huez by winning a second gold medal in as many days. He defeated crowd favorite Benjamin Cavet in the Grand Finals. Olympic champion Walter Wallberg received bronze by beating Kazakh Pavel Kolmakov in the small final.
Costly fall
Gold medalist in this event last year on this track, Mikaël Kingsbury wanted to do it again on Saturday, the day after his second place in the moguls.
The Quebecer is used to coming back very strong when victory eludes him, as was the case on Friday in Alpe d’Huez. The last time he didn’t win back-to-back gold was in 2018, two-time World Cup silver medalist in Tazawako, Japan.
He was given a first-round bye on Saturday. Opposed to Briton William Feneley in the round of 16, the athlete from Deux-Montagnes fell and was eliminated.
Kingsbury thus ends the weekend at 29e rank.
With the exception of his very first World Cup in Calgary in 2010, the reigning world champion had always finished among the top-16 on the circuit, mostly on one of the three steps of the podium, as shown by his 108 medals. in 127 starts.
Gabriel Dufresne and Elliot Vaillancourt follow each other in the final ranking, respectively 23e and 24e. Alexandre Lavoie occupies the 38e level of this test.
Among the women, Laurianne Desmarais-Gilbert was stopped in the qualifications and finished in 21e place, just as she had done in Idre Fjäll a week earlier.
The hard workers will take advantage of the holiday break and will be in action at home, at the end of January, for a World Cup scheduled for Val Saint-Côme.