Three Canadians Make Tazawako World Cup Podium

Canadian Freestyle Ski Association – Tazawako, Japan – Canada grabbed fifty percent of the positions on the FIS World Cup  mogul’s podium today in Tazawako, Japan. Mikaël Kingsbury (Deux-Montagnes, QC) was narrowly beaten out for first by American Bradley Wilson by of score of 86.14 to 86.09.
 
Kingsbury entered the weekend as the defending champion and led the field after qualification. It is the 23-year-old’s fourth time on the podium out of five World Cup events this season.
 
“I’m pretty pleased with how all my runs went and with the fact that I was first coming out of qualifications,” said Kingsbury. “I think I could have done a little more in the finals to win the competition. Overall the day was really good and I look forward to another chance at winning a World Cup tomorrow when I can come back and defend my dual moguls title from last year.”
 
Australian Matt Graham came in third with a score of 83.05. Philippe Marquis (Quebec City, QC) was the only other male Canadian in the final and finished fifth with a score of 82.18.
 
France’s Perrine Laffont won her first career World Cup and was joined on the podium by two Canadians, Chloé Dufour-Lapointe (Montreal, QC) in second and Audrey Robichaud (Quebec City, QC) in third.
 
Laffont ended the day with a score of 78.91. Dufour-Lapointe wasn’t far behind with 78.06 and Robichaud had 77.83 to duplicate her final ranking from the Tazawako World Cup in 2015.
 
“Today the race went really well and I skied really well. I’m happy with my jumping and how I picked up speed in the bumps,” said Robichaud. “My training was consistent all week and that helped. The course wasn’t easy, but we had a lot of fun skiing today. I’m really happy making it to the podium once again in Japan and I hope I can do it again tomorrow.”
 
Andi Naude (Penticton, BC) finished fifth, Maxime Dufour-Lapointe (Montreal, QC)  in seventh and Justine Dufour-Lapointe (Montreal, QC) 15^th for a total of five Canadians getting through past qualifications.
 
Kingsbury continues to widen his gap in the World Cup standings with 505 points. Justine is holding a slim lead over Chloé by a score of 420 to 398 for the overall women’s title.
 
The athletes get another shot at glory tomorrow when they compete in a dual moguls World Cup in Tazawako. A full schedule is available here.
 
Fulll ladies’ results
Fulll men’s results
Ladies’ moguls World Cup leaderboard
Men’s moguls World Cup leaderboard