Mikael Kingsbury, of Canada, flips during the men's duel moguls qualifications at the World Cup Freestyle skiing competition Saturday, Feb. 4, 2012, at Deer Valley Resort in Park City, Utah. (AP Photo/Jim Urquhart)The Associated Press
Mikael Kingsbury won a silver medal in dual moguls at the FIS Freestyle World Cup on Saturday, but the result was bittersweet for the Canadian freestyle skiing star.
Kingsbury missed a chance to break Jeremy Bloom's 2005 record of six World Cup wins in a row. Like his one-time idol, Kingsbury followed his six-event winning streak with a second-place showing.
"I won't break the record here, but it's quite an accomplishment and I'm proud of myself," said Kingsbury, who maintains a commanding lead of the overall World Cup standings.
The 19-year-old native of Deux-Montagnes, Que., was sandwiched on the podium by Russian brothers Sergey and Andrey Volkov who took the gold and bronze medals, respectively. Jeremy Cota of the US was fourth.
In women's dual moguls, Montreal's Justine Dufour-Lapointe also won silver.
It was a long trip to the podium, as organizers took the top 32 men from qualifications as opposed to the standard 16 for the duals ladder. That meant the top male skiers had to ski six runs on one of the longest mogul runs on the tour tonight.
"That was the most duals I've ever had to do in one competition," said Kingsbury, who was eighth after a mistake on his second jump in the qualification round.
Kingsbury had to ski against teammate and Olympic champion Alex Bilodeau of Montreal in the round of eight, in what was one of the closest duals of the night. Bilodeau finished fifth.
Marc-Antoine Gagnon of Terrebonne, Que., was seventh; Cedric Rochon of St. Sauveur, Que. was ninth; Eddie Hicks of Langley, B.C. was 17th and Quebec City's Philippe Marquis was 19th.
On the women's side, the Dufour-Lapointe earned her fifth silver medal of the season after battling American Hannah Kearney in the final dual. It was Kearney's 14th straight World Cup victory.
"I think I did my best job, seriously it was my best-ever dual against Hannah," Dufour-Lapointe said. "I stayed straight and I was faster than her. I'm getting better every dual against her so one time I'll beat her for real."
Heather McPhie of the United States took Yulia Galysheva of Kazakhstan in the small final for the bronze medal.
Dufour-Lapointe's sister Chloe finished in sixth. Quebec City's Audrey Robichaud and Spruce Grove, Alta's Chelsea Henitiuk also made finals, but were knocked out in the first round of duals. They finished the night in 10th and 13th position, respectively.
The eldest Dufour-Lapointe sister, Maxime, just missed the finals, qualifying in 17th position.