MOGULS:

Canadians Kingsbury, Robichaud tops in Nor-Am moguls at Lake Placid

Jan. 29, 2010 — Canadian Freestyle Ski Association

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — Mikael Kingsbury of Deux-Montagnes, Que., and Audrey Robichaud of Quebec City won the gold medal in men’s and women’s moguls, respectively, on Friday at the Lake Placid Nor-Am competition.

Kingsbury earned his first career Nor-Am win, tabulating 24.51 points. The event was reduced to one run due to the extreme cold weather. Usually there is a preliminary round then the top 16 advance to the final. Jeremy Coda of the U.S. was second at 23.78 and David DiGravio of the U.S. third at 23.32.

“I bought myself new gloves this morning and put warming pads in them as well,” said Kingsbury, 17. “So the cold didn’t bother me too much. I did better than I expected today and I couldn’t have done my airs any better. I was at my best.”

Marc-André Gingras of Montreal was sixth, Pascal-Olivier Gagné of Montreal eighth, Michael Henitiuk of Calgary 11th and Simon Pouliot-Cavanagh of Quebec City 12th.

There was also only one run for women’s moguls. Robichaud was first at 22.92, Mikaela Matthews of the U.S. second at 21.47 and Eliza Outtrim of the U.S. third at 21.08. Béatrice Bilodeau of Rosemère, Que., was fourth at 20.43 and Justine Dufour-Lapointe of Montreal ninth.

“It was a pretty tough day with the conditions,” said Robichaud, 21, who has three top-10 World Cup performances this season. “We had to find ways to keep warm and we wore more layers of clothing than usual. Still, overall I skied very well. I had a solid week training and I was expecting to do well here.”

Competition ends Saturday with another men’s and women’s moguls competition. Also on Saturday, a World Cup aerials competition is scheduled at Ski Mont Gabriel, Que.  SRC