Red-hot Heil takes 4th straight World Cup title
Canadian freestyle skier Jennifer Heil still thinks there's room for improvement even though she's won four straight World Cup gold medals.
"I can still ski faster," she said. "I know I can still make some changes with my body position and my skiing, being a little calmer. On my backflip, I want to make my cross more 'wow."'
Heil had enough "wow" in her run Saturday night to extend her winning streak in women's moguls. Heil, of Spruce Grove, Alta., took top spot ahead of Americans Heather McPhie and Michelle Roark.
"Overall, it was a good performance. I was happy with the size of my jumps," said Heil. "I know there's still quite a bit I can improve, I need to improve the cross on my bottom jump and I can still improve my turns. I find that really motivating and I'm excited to do that over the next few weeks."
Despite her string of World Cup victories, Heil remains focused on defending her Olympic title.
"I'm just using every race to take my level of skiing up as high as I can push it, she said. "Obviously, standing on top of the podium is a huge bonus, but it's really not where my focus is."
Alexandre Bilodeau of Rosemere, Que., added a bronze in the men's event. Guilbaut Colas of France won gold and Dale Begg-Smith of Australia took the silver.
It was Heil's 25th career World Cup victory. She won back-to-back moguls events in Calgary last week, then followed up with two victories on the Deer Valley course.
"Yes, it's four in a row and this is absolutely amazing, but that's what I admire about Jenn," said her coach Dominick Gauthier. "It's really not about results and when she says it, she means it.
"It's not about having four gold medals in a row, it's about how much she can improve until the Games and she's committed to that plan and it's amazing."
Heil, who set a personal best of six straight World Cup wins during the 2006-'07 season, scored 25.59 points for the latest victory. McPhie was second with 24.93 and Roark was right behind with 24.91.
Kristi Richards of Summerland, B.C., was seventh. Audrey Robichaud of Quebec City was 10th, Chloe Dufour-Lapointe of Montreal was 11th and Maxime Dufour-Lapointe of Montreal was 18th.
In the high-scoring men's final, Colas won with 26.80 points. Begg-Smith was second with 26.21 and Bilodeau was third with 25.95.
Bilodeau, who will soon head to his second Olympics, had a strong middle section but said a small mistake on the landing of his first jump may have cost him a higher position on the podium.
Maxime Gingras of St-Hippolyte, Que., was fourth.
"I think it was the best run of my life," Gingras said. "I did some of my best skiing in Calgary last week, and it's continued here. I really want to be part of this [Olympic] team."
Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau of Drummondville, Que., was eighth to remain in contention for the Olympic squad. Philippe Marquis of Quebec City was 13th and his brother Vincent was 18th.