Freestyle Skiing World Cup | Mikaël Kingsbury triumphs at Tremblant

(Mont-Tremblant) Mikaël Kingsbury got a little carried away during his last singles start at Alpe d’Huez last month.

Simon drouin
Press

Wanting to put on too much, he made a small mistake on the last jump, which put him down to third. After his eighth place eight days earlier in Sweden, an anomaly in an otherwise near-perfect course, his start to the season was a bit messy.

When he put his ski bag in his car and drove the 45 minutes between Saint-Sauveur and Mont-Tremblant earlier this week, he was a man on a mission. He wanted to recover the yellow jersey of leader in the standings of the World Cup and, suddenly, to restore his status of hyper favorite for the Olympic Games in Beijing, where he will aim for a second title in a row.

Kingsbury is in the process of ticking both boxes. Friday afternoon, he won the first of two rounds of the Tremblant World Cup. The 29-year-old worker clearly won in the cold-weather final, without overdoing it.

“You have to be smart, we learn from our mistakes,” said the winner, referring to his small chain jump at Alpe d’Huez.

First in Qualifying and Final 1, Kingsbury waited to see what his main rival, Japan’s Ikuma Horishima would offer, before deciding on his strategy for his own downhill. He chose a conservative high jump (somersault with a spin), controlled his speed and “cleaned up” his 1080 on the second jump, en route to a score of 86.24 points. Like a chef who adjusts the ingredients to his liking to get the perfect plate.

In these times of COVID-19, he has had no one else to say hello to his parents and his girlfriend, officially security volunteers for this competition held behind closed doors.

“I just wanted to thank all the volunteers who made it possible for us to have an event this year at Tremblant. I know it wasn’t easy, but they gave us a great track so that we had a chance to express ourselves well, ”said Kingsbury.

“Kingsbury has better jumps than me”

Penultimate to start in Final 2, Walter Wallberg was very happy to keep his silver medal thanks to his effort of 84.65 points. “Kingsbury has better jumps than I do,” agreed the 21-year-old Swede, returning to the hotel without his mask, showing that COVID-19 does not scare all athletes equally.

Horishima, winner of the previous two singles stages, overcame a somewhat sluggish semi-final (6^e) to move up to third place, which allows him to maintain a 28-point priority over the Quebecer in the discipline’s standings. The Japanese knocked over a photographer by crashing into the fence on arrival. Fortunately, he narrowly avoided Bernard Brault.

Four other Canadians reached Final 1 reserved for the first 16, without any of them being able to accompany Kingsbury to the final stage where the best six are invited.

Gabriel Dufresne distinguished himself by climbing to 10^e echelon, a personal peak in singles. He had finished in the same position parallel to Alpe d’Huez.

“We will not spit on a 10^e place, reacted the athlete from Joliette. I haven’t done a ton of it in my career. I’m not necessarily disappointed, but I think maybe I could have gotten into the top 8 today which would have given me a boost in my chances of going to the Olympics. . “

The 25-year-old skier is aiming for a better qualification on Saturday (13^e Friday), which, in his eyes, would represent an advantage over the judges in Final 1.

On his first start since a herniated disc suffered before the start of the season, Laurent Dumais placed 15^e. “It was still better than I thought, rejoiced the one who considerably improves his lot in the race for the Olympics. For a comeback, it was a treat. ”

The skier from Quebec nevertheless suffered and had the feeling of having been passed over his body. “Physically, it was a bit steep. I encountered some difficulties during training. My body really took a lot of shocks. I had to deal with this today during the day. ”

Other Canadians

Brenden Kelly and Jordan Kober of British Columbia finished 13 respectively^e and 14^e. This is a personal high for the latter. Kelly, he joins the group of athletes who have three top 16 in the Olympic qualification process.

The second stop of the Tremblant World Cup will be presented on Saturday. Kingsbury will try to sign his fourth success in a row in the great resort of the Laurentians.

“It’s a great victory, but I can ski even better,” warned the one who is approaching 100 podiums on the circuit (98). “I have a lot of gas in the tank. Today, we were smart. Tomorrow the guys may continue to open the machine. I have a more difficult jump [à faire] at the top. I have a lot of speed gears to put on if I have to. ”

Besides, he was planning to relax on his Xbox with his favorite game, F1, where he thinks he is Lewis Hamilton.