Weekend Roundup: Kingsbury close to career milestone, Strate sets hill record at world championships
It was a banner weekend for Team Canada with podiums all over the world, led by “King of Moguls” Mikaël Kingsbury, who inched closer to a unbelievable career milestone of 100 career World Cup victories by taking his 97th and 98th wins at the FIS Moguls World Cup in Kazakhstan this weekend.
Team Canada’s ski cross athletes notched three podiums in Georgia, while Canadian long track speed skaters claimed two medals in the Netherlands. Eliot Grondin further established his lead in the men’s snowboard cross World Cup standings with a second place finish in Türkiye.
There were also impressive finishes by Canadians in ski jumping, aerials, and snowboard alpine, so make sure you’re all caught up!
Moguls: Kingsbury earns his 28th career Crystal Globe
Mikaël Kingsbury continues to rewrite the history of his sport. His two victories over the weekend at the FIS Moguls World Cup in Almaty, Kazakhstan, in both individual moguls and dual moguls, brought him closer to the 100-win milestone. Kingsbury has 98 World Cup victories to his name, making the 100-win mark possible within this season.
He also secured his 13th Crystal Globe for the overall standings and his 28th across all disciplines.
Ski cross: Three medals in Gudauri
Reece Howden struck gold at the Ski Cross World Cup in Gudauri, Georgia, on Saturday, earning his fourth win of the season and 15th career victory. He dominated his heats before defeating Florian Wilmsmann (silver) and Simone Deromedis (bronze) in the final.
READ: Howden wins gold at FIS Ski Cross World Cup In Gaudauri, Georgia
Courtney Hoffos added to Canada’s success with a bronze medal in the women’s event on Saturday, her second podium finish this season. Howden’s win moved him to third in the overall standings, while Hoffos continues to impress with her consistent performances.
India Sherret also found the podium in Friday’s race, taking third. The result moved Sherret into the top spot in the race for the Crystal Globe over teammate Marielle Thompson. This was sixth podium of the season, and 11th of her career. Thompson unfortunately suffered a crash in the first day of racing in Gudauri.
Long track speed skating: Dubreuil, Blondin claim silver in final leg of World Cup
Team Canada skaters collected a pair of silver medals as the ISU World Cup of Speed Skating season came to a close in Heerenveen, Netherlands.
Laurent Dubreuil capped off an impressive 500m campaign with a time of 34.51 seconds, just 0.05 off of the gold medal time. With the result, Dubreuil leapfrogged Japan’s Tatsuya Shinhama in the distance standings to finish second overall. American Jordan Stolz, who did not race on Sunday, already had first place secured after winning seven gold medals in the distance this season.
Dubreuil added a fifth place finish in the 1000m on Saturday.
In the women’s mass start, Ivanie Blondin was on the wrong side of a photo finish as Dutch skater Marijke Groenewoud took first place by two-tenths of a second over the Canadian. Blondin’s silver was her second of the season, and she finished fourth overall in the distance rankings for the season.
READ: Dubreuil and Blondin claim silvers in World Cup finale
Isabelle Weidemann fell just outside the podium, with a fourth-place finish in the women’s 3000m event on Saturday. David La Rue took sixth in the men’s mass start on Sunday.
With World Cup competition now finished, the ISU speed skating season will conclude March 13-16 with the World Speed Skating Single Distances Championships in Hamar, Norway.
Snowboard Cross: Grondin maintains his lead with silver medal
Eliot Grondin reached the podium at the FIS Snowboard Cross World Cup in Erzurum, Türkiye, with a second-place finish in the final.
Grondin has an impressive 130-point lead over his closest competitor in the overall standings.
Ski Jumping: Strate sets hill record in Trondheim
Team Canada’s Alexandria Loutitt and Abigail Strate tied for fifth place in the women’s normal hill event at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships in Trondheim, Norway. Both Canadians scored a total of 236.7 points in the final.
In her first jump of the finals, Strate soared to a distance of 104.5m, setting a hill record for the normal hill in Trondheim.
Aerials: Thenault narrowly misses podium in Kazakhstan
Marion Thénault came within a few points of a medal at the FIS Aerials World Cup in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Thenault finished with 81.56 points, less than six short of the bronze medal position. No other skier besides those in the top four eclipsed the 70-point mark. A medal for Thenault would have been the second of the year for the 24-year-old.
The Aerials World Cup will resume on March 11 in Livigno, Italy.
Alpine Snowboard: Moisan continues streak of strong results
Aurelie Moisan raced to tenth place in the women’s parallel giant slalom at the FIS Snowboard Alpine World Cup in Krynica, Poland.
Moisan notched a fourth place finish on home snow in Val Saint-Comê, Québec in mid-February—her career best World Cup result. Moisan won gold at the 2024 FIS Junior World Championships.
