Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury finally pushed off top of podium at World Cup

Jan 18, 2019 | 11:15 AM

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — Mikael Kingsbury’s perfect start to the moguls season finally came to an end on Friday.

The Canadian settled for fifth in a World Cup event, marking the first time in five starts Kingsbury, 26, did not finish on top of the podium.

“I had a perfect season so far, so it’s a little difficult to accept,” Kingsbury said. “But I’m going to do better next week in Tremblant.”

The reigning Olympic champ from Deux-Montagnes, Que., finished with 72.93 points.

Kingsbury had reached the podium in his previous 19 outings in a single mogul event. His last miss also was in Lake Placid when he finished sixth on Jan. 13, 2017.

“I skied well on my first two runs, but in the super final I tried to go a little too big on the top jump and made a stupid mistake,” said Kingsbury.

France’s Benjamin Cavet (84.83 points) took gold, Sweden’s Walter Wallberg (81.47) was second and Australia’s Matt Graham (80.94) was third.

Philippe Marquis of Quebec City was eighth.

On the women’s side, Canada also had two top-10 finishers. Chloe Dufour-Lapointe of Montreal was seventh and Sofiane Gagnon of Whistler, B.C., was eighth.

“It was a good day in some ways, not so good in others,” Dufour-Lapointe said. “I worked on some things this week, especially on corks, but today the mix wasn’t quite right.”

Jakara Anthony of Australia won, Perrine Laffont of France was second and American Tess Johnson captured bronze.

The World Cup moguls circuit heads to Mont-Tremblant, Que., next week.

The Canadian Press