MOGULS:

Kingsbury leads Canadian moguls dominance in Lake Placid Nor-Am

Jan. 30, 2010 — Canadian Freestyle Ski Association

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — Mikael Kingsbury of Deux-Montagnes, Que., won his second gold in two days in Nor-Am men’s moguls action Saturday to highlight a four-medal performance for Canada.

Kingsbury, 17, 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 Nor-Am 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 Nor-Am 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.” She has two older sisters on the national freestyle 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.  SRC