Canada’s Kingsbury and Justine Dufour-Lapointe move into Olympic moguls finals

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This article was published 03/02/2022 (1336 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

ZHANGJIAKOU, China – Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury doesn’t think about taking it slow in competition, he just executes.

Kingsbury dominated the qualifying round of the men’s moguls competition at the Beijing Olympics on Thursday, topping the next best skier by more than two points as he began his title defence. He advanced to Saturday’s men’s final about 90 minutes after teammate Justine Dufour-Lapointe qualified for the women’s final.

“I didn’t try to win today,” said Kingsbury at the bottom of the course at Zhangjiakou Genting Snow Park, about 200 kilometres northwest of Beijing. “I mean, every time I’m in qualification, I don’t try to win, but I often end up winning the qualification.

“I just did what I needed to do.”

Kingsbury, from Deux-Montagnes, Que., secured first place in qualifying with a run of 81.15. Sweden’s Walter Wallberg (79.12) was second and France’s Benjamin Cavet (78.40) was third.

Some of Kingsbury’s top competition from the World Cup circuit faltered in the qualifying round, with Japan’s Ikuma Horishima placing 16th and Australia’s Matt Graham not finishing his run.

The Canadian is the reigning Olympic and world champion and by far the most successful moguls skier in history with 71 World Cup victories and nine overall titles. He said his wealth of experience helped him stay composed under the bright Olympic lights because he didn’t try to do too much.

“That’s sometimes what you’re going to see with a lot of athletes at the Olympics,” said Kingsbury, who also won silver at the 2014 Sochi Games. “They start very strong in their qualification runs and they make a lot of mistakes.

“It makes it tough to come back when you’re pushing right away in the qualification.”

Quebec City’s Laurent Dumais finished with 69.76, which was good for 24th in the men’s qualifier. Justine’s older sister Chloé Dufour-Lapointe was 11th in the women’s and Sofiane Gagnon of Whistler, B.C., was 14th.

All three will have a second chance to qualify on Saturday ahead of the medal rounds later that day.

“I think (Gagnon) did a really good job to maintain her composure and do it, just a couple of little mistakes,” said Canadian coach Michel Hamelin. “(Dumais) just needs to do his stuff. I think the ice is broken for him.

“Q2, we start again. Let’s go for it.”

Montreal’s Justine Dufour-Lapointe (71.45) was the last Canadian woman to have a qualifying run on Thursday. She advanced to the medal round when Kazakhstan’s Anastassiya Gorodko, the final skier of women’s qualifying, did not finish her run.

Beijing is Justine Dufour-Lapointe’s third Olympics, having won gold at Sochi in 2014 and then silver at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games.

Chloé Dufour-Lapointe placed 11th, just outside of the qualifying line, with 70.31 points. She was bumped out of a finals berth when France’s Perrine Laffont entered the top 10 with the second-last run of the event.

Australia’s Jakara Anthony (83.75) was first in women’s qualifying, Laffont (81.11) was second and American Jaelin Kauf (79.15) was third.

The older Dufour-Lapointe sister is competing in her fourth Olympics, having debuted in Vancouver in 2010, winning silver in 2014 at Sochi and then participating four years ago in Pyeongchang.

Gagnon earned a 68.47 at her first-ever Olympics.

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“There were a few mistakes but I’m super proud of my skiing. These last four days of training were pretty tough,” said Gagnon. “This course isn’t easy, so I’m so glad that I could block out the distractions of the Games and just focus on my skiing. I’m really happy with my run.”

Five women didn’t start or finish their runs, with Russian skier Viktoriia Lazarenko barely keeping her balance to place 25th with a score of 29.65.

Temperatures dropped to below -18 Celsius with the wind changing directions throughout the competition. Gagnon said the conditions made the moguls icy and harder on the legs. She said that it was hard to ignore the struggles of her competitors as she prepared for her run.

“It’s hard not to listen to it because you do hear the announcers at the top,” she said. “You try to block it out as much as you can and stay in your bubble and focus on yourself.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 3, 2022.