Kingsbury chalks up 100th podium with win, Laffont takes World Cup lead
Jan 14, 2022·Freestyle
The second-to-last FIS Freestyle World Cup competition before we head off to the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games took to the storied slopes of Deer Valley Resort on Thursday afternoon, where the two reigning Olympic champions Perrine Laffont (FRA) and Mikael Kingsbury (CAN) finished up an exceptional day of skiing at the Intermountian Healthcare Freestyle International with victories.
Always one of the most challenging moguls courses in the world, Champion Run again pushed the world’s best moguls skiers to their limits on Thursday, with the three first women out of the big final start gate all failing to complete clean runs.
An especially scary moment then came in the men’s big final when the USA’s George McQuinn appeared to lose control just before the final air bump, getting in the backseat and then striking his head on the jump. While the scene following McQuinn’s crash was a tense and somber one, early reports from the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Team indicate McQuinn is stable and responsive.
THREE-WAY BATTLE BETWEEN LAFFONT, KAWAMURA AND ANTHONY CONTINUES
After the mishaps of Elizabeth Lemley (USA), Olivia Giaccio (USA) and Junko Hoshino (JPN) in the women’s big final, all that was left for the final three skiers to do was get down clean and they would be ensured of a podium spot, and as you would expect of the biggest performers so far this season, all three delivered.
Best of the bunch was Laffont, the four-time reigning crystal globe winner who came into Deer Valley still sitting in the unusual spot of not being atop the moguls World Cup standings, with Japan’s Anri Kawamura owning the yellow leader’s bib to start the day on Thursday.
By the end of the first day of moguls competition in Deer Valley, however, Laffont would once again be leading the standings - though both the win and her World Cup lead would come to her by the barest of margins.
Laffont’s 80.20-scoring run showcased her signature brand of speed and control, with the fastest time and the second-highest jump scores of the day for her off-axis 720 on the top jump and backflip mute on the bottom air bump. The win was Laffont’s second-straight and third of the season, as well as her fifth podium in eight World Cup competitions thus far in 2021/22, giving her a one point advantage over Kawamura, with 450 points to the Japanese skier’s 449.
Laffont bested Kawamura’s big final run by just .17 points, as the 17-year-old Japanese skier scored a 80.03 to earned what was also her fifth podium in eight events so far in 2021/22. Kawamura continues to impress in what is just her third season of World Cup action, once again showcasing her outstanding control by scoring the day’s best turning scores and earning the first of what would be three Japanese podiums on the day.
Third place on the day with a score of 79.84 went to the top skier from final one, as Jakara Anthony (AUS) put down what were far and away the best jump scores of the superfinal, but had a few bobbles in her turns through the middle section. Still, with her seventh podium in this season’s eight competitions, Anthony remains the most consistent skier in women’s moguls and sits just 25 points back of Laffont on the World Cup standings with 425 points. The three-way battle between her, Laffont and Kawamura will be must-watch viewing through Beijing and beyond.
KINGSBURY SETS ANOTHER MILESTONE WITH 100th CAREER PODIUM
While McQuinn’s crash overshadowed proceedings in the men’s superfinal, when we did get through the runs and the results were in what we were treated to was yet another milestone in the career of the greatest freestyle skier of all time, as Mikael Kingsbury took the win for his 100th World Cup podium.
No skier in FIS Freestyle moguls history has owned a venue as thoroughly as Kingsbury has Deer Valley, as the 29-year-old now has 15 of his 71 career wins and 21 of his 100 career podiums at the venue, with both of those ratios working out to 21% of his career totals.
In fact, Kingsbury has only missed the Deer Valley World Cup podium twice in 23 starts here, and he certainly wasn’t going to see his third miss on Thursday, as he once again attacked the imposing Champion Run in the way that only he knows how, skiing fast and smart, reigning his jump package in somewhat to focus on his turns and speed and scoring a 83.28.
Nobody in FIS Freestyle history has owned the podium at a venue as thoroughly as Mikael Kingsbury has over his career in Deer Valley, and it seems fitting that the 100th career podium for the greatest men’s freestyle skier of all time would come here today.
“I’m feeling really good,” Kingsbury said after his landmark performance, “I think that’s four wins in a row for me now. It was a great competition again, super tight with Ikuma (Horishima), and it’s super fun to have this battle with him.
“But also my thoughts are with George McQuinn. I didn’t really see what happened because I was standing at the top, but it didn’t look good and wish him all the best.”
Dropping last in the superfinal after putting down the top score in the first final run was Japan’s Ikuma Horishima, who lead the World Cup standings for much of the season but relinquished the yellow leader’s bib to Kingsbury last weekend in Tremblant. While Horishima put down his typical, storming brand of moguls run in the superfinal, some minor mistakes on his jumps and turns through the middle of the course meant he would finish in second place with a score of 81.98.
Still, with his runner-up finish, Horishima was able to extended his hugely impressive streak of podiums so far in 2021/22 to eight-straight, and sits just 32 points back of Kingsbury on the World Cup leaderboard, with 460 points to Kingsbury’s 492.
Third place for the men with a score of 79.02 went to Kosuke Sugimoto (JPN), who earned not only Japan’s third podium of the day but, more importantly, the first World Cup podium of his career. The milestone came in the 27-year-old’s 38th career start and his eighth season of World Cup competition.
Action at the Intermountain Healthcare Freestyle International at Deer Valley continues on Friday with the second of back-to-back moguls competitions, with qualifications beginning at 9:10 MT, followed by finals at 14:00.
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