Mikaël Kingsbury and Chloé Dufour-Lapointe win Crystal Globes

Canadian Freestyle Ski Association – Kingsbury wins 33^rd World Cup of his career, three Canadians reach podium in Moscow

Moscow, Russia – The 2015-2016 season ended very similarly to the way it started with Mikaël Kingsbury (Deux-Montagnes, QC) defeating France’s Ben Cavet in a dual moguls battle to claim another World Cup victory.
 
Kingsbury opened the season in December by defeating Cavet in Ruka to win his 29^th World Cup and breaking a tie with legendary French skier Edgar Grospiron for most career victories. Today’s 20-15 win over Cavet in the Moscow finals marks the 33^rd World Cup title for Kingsbury.
 
In eight FIS World Cups this season, Kingsbury never finished below fifth place and managed to win five competitions and came in second in two more. His consistency and dominance earned him 705 points in the standings and a record fifth consecutive FIS Crystal Globe for mogul skiers. The next closest competitor in the standings was Australia’s Matt Graham with 378.

“It was a different feeling entering this competition without much pressure knowing that I had already clinched the Crystal Globe,” said Kingsbury. “I was pushed hard by the other skiers though and really gave it my all each time and especially against Cavet in the finals. Overall I’m pretty happy with my day and to walk away with this title.”

Although the FIS World Cup season has not officially been completed for other disciplines, Kingsbury’s victory all but assures that he will also be award the Crystal Globe overall title for a fifth consecutive year – a feat that has never been done before for men and would tie him with France’s Eric Laboureix for the most career titles among men.
 
“It was my goal this season to win a fifth Crystal Globe. It was a pretty great season and I only missed the podium once,” added Kingsbury. “I’m proud that I won more than half the World Cups this season. It was a shorter season for us, so I really made a point to be consistent every competition. I’m heading in the right direction with my skiing and I’m excited for the World Championships next year and the Olympic Games the year after that.”
 
To add to today’s historic day, Chloé Dufour-Lapointe edged out her sister Justine in the ladies’ mogul standings by a score of 494 to 471 to capture the first Crystal Globe title of her career. It is also the first time in history that that two Canadians are awarded the mogul skiing title in the same year.

“I feel like I reached the goal that I had at the beginning of the season and that was to be consistent throughout the year. That’s what you need to do to win the Crystal Globe and I am extremely proud of myself,” said Chloé. “I really gave it my all at every single competition this season and only missed the podium twice. I’m going to work even harder in the off-season to work on the little things, but I will also take the time to really appreciate this moment.”  

Overall it was another strong World Cup showing for Canada as Andi Naude (Penticton, BC) finished in second place to France’s Perrine Laffont who edged her out in the final 18-17. Philippe Marquis (Quebec City, QC) also finished in third place on the men’s side.
 
Canada dominated the mogul’s tour once again this season and was awarded the Nations Cup. On the men’s side three Canadians made the top-20 list in the overall moguls standings, including Kingsbury in first, Marquis in fourth and Laurent Dumais (Quebec City, QC) in 19^th.

Joining Chloé and Justine in the top-10 are Naude in fifth, Audrey Robichaud (Quebec City, QC) in sixth and Maxime Dufour-Lapointe in seventh. Alex-Anne Gagnon (Terrebonne, QC) came in 15^th.
 
The mogul team will now turn their attention to the 40^th annual Canadian Mogul Championships being held from March 12-13 at Camp Fortune in Chelsea, QC.

Ladies’ results from Moscow
Men’s results from Moscow
Ladies’ World Cup standings
Men’s World Cup standings
Nations Cup standings

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