Mikael Kingsbury leads the charge with second-straight NorAm gold
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. – Mikael Kingsbury of Deux-Montagnes, Que., won his
second gold in two days in men’s moguls on Saturday to highlight a
quadruple medal performance for Canada in mogul action here.
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Mikael Kingsbury won two straight
NorAms
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In men’s moguls, 17-year-old Kingsbury scored 24.83 points in the
final to repeat his winning performance from Friday. He was also first
in Saturday’s morning preliminaries. David DiGravio of the U.S., was
second at 23.93 and Michael Henitiuk of Whistler third at 23.82.
"I never expected to come here and win both events,” said Kingsbury.
"But yesterday I realized I had the ability to win and I went into
today feeling very confident. It was a very similar kind of
performance; I couldn’t say one performance was better than another.
The key for me is my consistency. I’m not making any big errors.”
Henitiuk earned his first career NorAm medal.
"It was pretty cool to get on the podium,” said Henitiuk. "Hopefully
I can get on a roll with that. Today I finally put it all together in
one run. It definitely helps my confidence and really motivates me for
the rest of the season. I’ve had a good year but I needed this kind of
result.”
Marc-Antoine Gagnon of Terrebonne, Que., was fifth, Simon Pouliot-Cavanagh of Quebec City sixth and Rob Winter of Edmonton 11th.
In women’s moguls, Eliza Outtrim of the U.S., was the winner at
23.09, 15-year-old Justine Dufour-Lapointe of Montreal was second at
22.98 for her first career NorAm medal and Audrey Robichaud of Quebec
City, Friday’s winner and Saturday’s top qualifier, was third at 22.83.
"I’m absolutely thrilled to get on the podium,” said
Dufour-Lapointe, sixth in prelims. "It went really well in the final. I
had a good clocking, my jumps were well executed and overall it was one
of my best ever runs,” said the youngster who’s two older sisters are
on the National Team.
Robichaud felt she was faring better than Friday until she botched her second air.
"Overall I was faster, my technique was much better today and my
first air was better,” said Robichaud, 21, who has earned three top-10
finishes on the World Cup this season. "But on the second air I was
attempting a back flip and I didn’t get enough rotation and lost my
balance a little bit.”
Béatrice Bilodeau of Rosemère, Que., was fifth, Alexandra Dufresne
of Lorraine, Que., 11th, and Chelsea Henitiuk of Whistler 12th.
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