Vancouver, February 2, 2023 – Not only is Deer Valley the moguls Mecca for freestyle skiers, it is also a venue where Mikaël Kingsbury (Deux-Montagnes, QC) has been consistently successful. The trend continued on Thursday as the “King of Moguls” ended his day with a silver medal.
After securing second place in the qualifying rounds and the first final, Kingsbury, true to form, still had energy to spare in the super final, where he laid down his best run of the day.
His score of 83.65 moved him into the top spot, with only one competitor to go. However, Matt Graham of Australia put an end to Kingsbury’s hopes of a gold medal with an excellent performance that earned him 85.35 points.
“That was a tough day, I’m very satisfied with my result. I had a nasty crash in training just before de finals. I locked in another Crystal Globe, I’m verry happy. Matt (Graham) was solid today and I must congratulate him”, Kingsbury said.
Today’s silver medal marks the Québécois’s nineteenth career podium finish at Deer Valley. That number could increase to twenty in Saturday’s dual moguls event.
Elliot Vaillancourt (Drummondville, QC), who came out of the qualification rounds in 16th place, delivered a strong performance in the first final to secure a spot in the next round. He earned 68.89 points in the super final, good for fifth place—the best result of his World Cup career so far.
Also in the first final, Julien Viel (Lévis, QC) and Louis-David Chalifoux (Quebec City, QC) cracked the Top Ten, taking ninth and tenth place, respectively.
Four other Canadians were in action early in the competition on Thursday. Gabriel Dufresne (Joliette, QC) and Alexandre Lavoie (Lac-Beauport, QC) finished 37th and 39th, respectively. Kerrian Chunlaud (Quebec City, QC) and Brenden Kelly (Pemberton, BC) did not complete the course.
On the women’s side, Maia Schwinghammer (Saskatoon, SK) was the only Canadian to advance to the super final, having placed sixth in the first final. She gave it her all at the end of the day, finishing fourth with 74.16 points.
It was the best result of the 21-year-old’s career so far. She finished fifth at Val Saint-Côme last Friday.
Schwinghammer had never skied at Deer Valley before today. She dedicated her performance to her former teammate Brayden Kuroda, who died suddenly in February 2020 at the age of 19. The words “For Brayden” were written on her gloves.
Australia’s Jakara Anthony (80.15) won the event, ahead of local favourite Jaelin Kauf (77.35) and Perrine Laffont of France (77.17).
Berkley Brown (Aurora, ON) came out of the qualifiers in 20th place, 3.99 points away from a spot in the first final. Laurianne Desmarais-Gilbert (Sainte-Adèle, QC) did not complete the course.
