Kingsbury captures moguls silver in Sweden, defeating reigning Olympic champ Wallberg
Canadian edged by American Nick Page in bid for second straight win to open season
Mikaël Kingsbury exacted a measure of revenge against reigning Olympic champion Walter Wallberg, though American Nick Page proved to be tougher challenge in moguls World Cup action on Saturday.
Page scored 81.02 points on his second run to defeat Kingsbury of Deux-Montagnes, Que., who posted 79.06 in Idre Fjäll, Sweden. Wallberg, who recorded 83.23 in the six-man super final at the Beijing Olympics last March to beat Kingsbury, rounded out the medal podium with 78.98.
"Huge congrats to Nick," Kingsbury told FIS of Page. "He's a great human being, he's an amazing skier [and] I'm very happy for him.
"For my skiing, I'm very happy. I think I did a very clean middle section and two good jumps. Very hard race to read by the judges and just excited for [Sunday]."
Japan's Ikuma Horishima (78.46) was fourth on Saturday, one week after finishing second to his Canadian rival in Ruka, Finland, where Kingsbury picked up his 75th career World Cup victory in the season opener.
WATCH | Kingsbury reaches medal podium for 146th time:
Kingsbury, the lone Canadian in Saturday's event, said he's as motivated as ever in his 12th season on the circuit.
"I'm always excited for the first race of the season. So I've never had a problem with motivation, really," said Kingsbury, who has reached a World Cup podium 146 times in his storied career. "I want to be there. I want to be the last guy to go. I want to be in those positions. I want to feel nervous."
Kingsbury's six world championship gold medals and 10 overall World Cup titles are records becoming virtually untouchable as he gears up to add to them this season.
The 30-year-old won Olympic gold in 2018, silver in 2014 and silver again last February in Beijing.
Canadian men eliminated in qualifying rounds:
- Gabriel Dufresne (Joliette, Que., 17th)
- Elliot Vaillancourt (Drummondville, Que., 20th)
- Kerrian Chunlaud (Sainte-Foy, Que., 21st),
- Daniel Tanner (Calgary, 27th)
- Julien Viel (Mont Sainte-Anne, Que., 28th)
- Alexandre Lavoie (Lac-Beauport, Que., 32nd)
Canadian women's results:
- Laurianne Desmarais-Gilbert (Sainte-Adèle, Que., 18th)
- Maïa Schwinghammer (Saskatoon, 20th)
Australia's Jakara Anthony (81.75) was crowned champion, ahead of Japan's Anri Kawamura (80.02) and France's Perrine Laffont (76.08).
All the competitors will return for Sunday's dual moguls event. Watch live coverage on CBCSports.ca, CBC Gem and the CBC Sports app for iOS and Android.
WATCH | Kingsbury begins moguls season with World Cup gold:
