FREESTYLE:

Kingsbury, Dufour-Lapointe claim bronze in Killington Nor-Am

Feb. 6, 2010 — Canadian Freestyle Ski Association

KILLINGTON, Vt. — Teenagers Mikael Kingsbury of Deux Montagnes, Que., and Justine Dufour-Lapointe of Montreal rallied from crashes in their semifinals to capture bronze medals in Nor-Am freestyle ski action at Killington, Vt., Saturday.

Kingsbury, 17, continued his medal-winning streak by collecting his fourth medal in his last four Nor-Am moguls starts. He won his previous three, all single moguls events, including Friday’s Nor-Am here.

Then he qualified first in Saturday’s prelims to advance to the round of 16 in dual moguls.

Kingsbury won his first two duals of the afternoon. However, he failed to reach the gold-medal final after crashing in his semifinal against Zak Watkins of the U.S.

Kingsbury lost some speed control late in his semifinal. That forced him to downgrade from a D-spin to an easier back layout on his second jump, but he still crashed.

Kingsbury was a convincing winner in the race for bronze over David Digravio of the U.S.

“I watched my speed and did my same run as usual, with big air,” said Kingsbury. “I’m pretty happy with all my results. Maybe this will give me a chance to earn some World Cup starts.”

With four medals in four Nor-Am starts, Kingsbury figures consistency is a key to his recent success.

Peter Judge, CEO of the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association, commented that he’s “extremely excited about the level of results as we look for the next generation of athletes moving towards 2014.”

The gold medal went to Friday’s silver medallist, Jeremy Cota of the U.S., leaving the silver for Watkins.

Other Canadian male finalists were Arnaud Laurin-Landry of Montreal, Simon Pouliot-Cavanagh of Quebec City, and Marc-Antoine Gagnon of Terrebonne, Que.

Justine Dufour-Lapointe, the 15-year-old sister of World Cup skiers Maxime and Chloé Dufour-Lapointe, took a hard fall in her semifinal against Junko Hoshimo of Japan. However, she rallied to win her bronze-medal dual over Aspen Witt of the U.S.

Eliza Outtrim of the U.S. won for the third time in her last four Nor-Am starts, leaving the silver medal for Hoshimo.

Other Canadian female finalists were Béatrice Bilodeau of Rosemère, Que., Alexandra Dufresne of Lorraine, Que., and Julie Bureau of Lac Beauport, Que.

Tougas sixth at Gabriel
Meanwhile, in Ste-Adele, Que. the Canadian Aerial Development Team faced some tough international competition in its Nor-Am. Geneviève Tougas of Saint-Hubert, Que., placed sixth, for the top Canadian placing in Saturday’s wind-blown, eight-nation Nor-Am freestyle ski competition at Ski Mont Gabriel.

She scored 140.60 points to finish one place back of 2006 Olympic aerials champion Evelyne Leu of Switzerland.

After scoring a solid 78.59 points for her opening jump, Tougas had trouble with her second jump.

“The wind was bothering me a lot. It was everywhere, sometimes a tailwind, sometimes a headwind, sometimes from the side,” said Tougas, whose best World Cup showing this season was 11th at Deer Valley last month.

“I should not have thought about the wind so much, and just focused on what I had to do.”

The five aerialists ahead of Tougas will all compete at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games, including winner Assoli Slivets of Belarus. She scored 172.47, while Australian Lydia Lassila, one of the Olympic medal favourites, missed one of her jumps en route to a second-place 169.19. Third went to Elizabeth Gardner of Australia in 159.65.

Other Canadian women were Sabrina Guérin of Laval, Que., in 11th and Laurence Allard-Riendeau of Montreal in 13th.

“This is really good for our young jumpers,” said Nicolas Fontaine, head aerials coach for Canada’s national development squad, of the heavy international entry for this Nor-Am event. “It’s always really motivating for them to be around world-class athletes.”

Olivier Rochon of Gatineau, Que., who’s nursing a sore hip injured last week, was the top Canadian male. He was ninth in men’s aerials with a score of 206.48 while competing with downgraded jumps.

David Morris of Australia won the men’s aerials with a score of 242.82. Past Olympic silver medallist Dmitri Dashinski of Belarus was second in 239.56. Dashinski’s teammates, 2010 World Cup overall aerials champion Anton Kushnir, was third in 226.38.

Travis Gerrits of Milton, Ont., was 12th after trying a pair of triple somersaults in competition for the first time. He scored 184.95. Next Canadian was Jonathan Vellner of Red Deer in 16th place.

Aerials Nor-Am competition continues Sunday with a second multi-nation event at Ski Mont Gabriel.  SRC