Kingsbury and moguls team make sunny stopover before final World Cup
The moguls ski team took a pretty awesome detour this week, on their way to France for the final World Cup of the season.
The fantastic four chilled in the Canary Islands, in a place called Lanzarote. It was record man and World Cup points leader Mikaël Kingsbury, second-ranked Philippe Marquis plus Simon Pouliot-Cavanagh and Marc-Antoine Gagnon who happen to sit fifth and sixth overall. If you’re counting, that’s four in the top six, making Canada the deepest team on the tour this year.
Watching Mikaël Kingbury’s season is like tuning to the History Channel, with wins on repeat, as his seven-straight victories are a FIS moguls record.
And the biggest premiere of the season may still be on the way. At this weekend’s dual moguls event in Megève, France the 22-year-old from Quebec can break the all-time World Cup wins record of 28. Kingsbury tied French legend Edgar Grospiron earlier this month in Japan.
RELATED: Mikaël Kingsbury ties World Cup wins record with 28th career victory
“I am excited to compete in the World Cup this Sunday,” said Kingsbury in a release. “This has been a really great season for me. I’ve really believed in the process put forth by my coaches and my goal is to continue to follow the plan we’ve designed for the season. I obviously have the record in the back of my mind. Grospiron is a legend and it would be an honour to surpass him.”
Word is Edgar Grospiron will be in Megève, along with Jean-Luc Brassard. The Frenchman won moguls Olympic gold in Albertville, Canada’s Brassard was champ two years later at Lillehammer 1994. They are the first two male Olympic champions in their event. Kingsbury has a silver from Sochi 2014, where Alex Bilodeau won.
And Grospiron threw down a prediction, “Mikaël Kingsbury is the favourite to win this World Cup,” commented Grospiron. “Kingsbury could be the best-ever once he reaches 29 victories. I tell people to follow and cheer for that guy. He’s a fantastic champion.”
This is Edgar Grospiron awesomely inviting you follow the competition:
Even if Kingsbury doesn’t manage the feat, it stands to reason he’ll do it eventually. He has clinched his fourth-straight Crystal Globe (for the World Cup moguls points winner) and has won 28 World Cup events in 60 starts. That’s a .467 winning percentage, which is staggering. Winning percentage is hardly a common stat for individual sport, but Kingsbury’s dominance makes it relevant. Grospiron’s was .350 for his 28 wins over 80 starts between 1985 and 1995. (Again, dual moguls didn’t exist during that time period).
Six Canadian women will also compete in France. Justine and Chloé Dufour-Lapointe, plus Audrey Robichaud are second, third, and fourth respectively behind American Hannah Kearney. Andi Naude, Maxime Dufour-Lapointe, and Alex-Anne Gagnon will also ski Megève.
