adminCanada maintained its command of the mogul field today, earning four medals here under sunny, warm skies in the first FIS World Cup event since the team’s extremely successful showing at World Championships.
In what is becoming the battle of the titans, Canadians Alex Bilodeau and Mikael Kingsbury went head-to-head in the finals of the dual mogul event. Bilodeau bested Kingsbury in the most exciting dual of the day by the narrowest of margins, an 18-17 vote by the judges.
Jeremy Cota of the U.S. prevailed over Japan’s Nobuyuki Nishi on the short, relatively flat course to capture the bronze.
For Rosemère, Quebec’s Bilodeau, it was the third win out of four dual mogul starts this season. “I feel great right now, I’m feeling the momentum and I’m in great shape.”
Bilodeau added that his battle with teammate Kingsbury was the most exciting dual of the day. “This is a challenging course because, it’s short and while it starts out fairly steep, it quickly goes to about 10 degrees,” said Bilodeau. “It’s hard to gain time on such a short course and you have to keep your run really clean because any small mistake will cost you. With [Kingsbury] and me it was really tight because neither of us made any mistakes.”
For his part, the Deux-Montagnes, Que. native, Kingsbury, was philosophical, “[Bilodeau] got me again,” he said, “but I’ll get him next time.”
Cedric Rochon (St. Sauver, Que.) finished the day in 11th position after an unfortunate loss to Norway’s Tevje-Lie Andersen.
In women’s action, a small over-rotation on her second jump cost Montreal’s Jenn Heil the gold in her battle with overall points leader Hannah Kearney of the U.S.
“I was in complete control for most of the run and was a little ahead of [Kearney], but I landed deeply on my second jump and that hurt me,” said Heil, who grew up in Spruce-Grove, Alta. “That’s a risk you take when you don’t hold back.”
It was an all-Canadian small final in the women’s division, with Chloé Dufour-Lapointe of Montreal going against Quebec City’s Audrey Robichaud. Dufour-Lapointe won the dual for the bronze medal in front of the large crowd.
Rookie Justine Dufour-Lapointe was sixth after losing to Heil in the quarter finals.
Most of the Canada Post sponsored mogul team is now headed to Sochi, Russia for a familiarization trip before back-to-ba
