Laffont and Kingsbury claim victories in Mont Tremblant
Jan 25, 2020·Freestyle
After more than a month since the last competition of 2019 wrapped up in China, the FIS Freestyle Ski Moguls World Cup tour was back in action on Saturday in Mont Tremblant (CAN) for the first event of the 2020 calendar year. There in Quebec, the historical heartland of Canadian moguls skiing, Perrine Laffont (FRA) and Mikael Kingsbury (CAN) took big wins after an explosive showcase of world’s best freestyle skiing.
This was the third consecutive year that Tremblant hosted moguls World Cup competition, carrying on a long tradition of aerials and moguls World Cup event that were staged here regularly from 1996 to 2005.
And again this year, the event in Quebec delivered a top-notch show, as the fourth moguls competition of the 2019/20 season went down in style on Tremblant’s classic Flying Mile course.
In the women’s competition Perrine Laffont extended her winning streak to a perfect four-for-four so far this season with the victory in Mont Tremblant, claiming top spot with a score of 82.14 points. Laffont continues to impress in 2019/20, and with her victory on Saturday the 21-year-old skier is looking strong on her way to clinch her third consecutive World Cup crystal globe once the season wraps up in March.
“It’s crazy”, said Laffont,”My fourth win this season and I can’t really believe it. I was trying to do my best today and at the end of the day I ended up on top of the podium again. It’s just amazing and I really want to thank all people around me, who help me get those victories.”
Second place went to Yulia Galysheva (KAZ), who finished the competition with a score of 80.99 for her second top-3 finish so far in the season.
Winner of 2019 Rookie of the Year award Anastasia Smirnova (RUS) rounded out the women’s podium in third place with 80.18 points. It was first top-3 finish in World Cup for the 17-year-old Smirnova.
In the women’s moguls ranking Laffont now has a perfect 400 points on the strength of her four wins, Galysheva moves into second place with 182 points, while Jakara Anthony (AUS) is sitting behind in third place with 174 points.
On the men’s side Mikael Kingsbury, charged hard yet again in front of the adoring home crowd in Mont Tremblant, claiming top spot by the barest of margins when he beat top challenger Ikuma Horishima, with Kingsbury’s 86.80 just .2 better than his Japanese rival's 86.60.
Despite all the efforts from Horishima and rest of the stacked-field of riders, Kingsbury managed to wrap up the competition on top of the podium, for his third victory of the season.
“It feels amazing to win in front of my friends and my family, everyone I love,” said Kingsbury, ”It’s a big weekend for me, Ikuma and Ben are just so consistent and keep pushing me all the time. I’m happy to grab this victory today.”
Horishima finished the competition in second place, showing another impressive performance to earn his fourth podium result in four competitions so far in this World Cup season.
Benjamin Cavet (FRA) completed the men’s podium in third place with a score of 83.99 points, also for his third podium of the season.
In the overall moguls World Cup ranking, Kingsbury continues to lead the way with 380 points. Horishima and Cavet are sitting in respective second and third position with 320 and 224 points.
The FIS Freestyle Ski Moguls World Cup tour will now travel to Calgary, where the season’s fifth event will take place at WinSport Canada Olympic Park on Saturday, February 1.
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