Kingsbury scores over 90 to take first in moguls at freestyle world cup

DEER VALLEY, Utah – Mikael Kingsbury continued his strong start to the new year with a second-straight win as he took first place in men’s moguls at the FIS freestyle world cup on Friday.

The Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Que., native scored a 90.25 in his run, putting him ahead of Australia’s Matt Graham and the United States’s Patrick Deneen.

With a new scoring system this year that goes up to 100, Kingsbury is the first competitor score higher than 90.

“We talk within skiers that a 90 would be quite impossible to do. Now, I’m part of the nine club,” Kingsbury said. “Member of the nine club. I am the first ever!”

Even with his finish, Kingsbury says that going into the event he needed to have a good run.

“I didn’t have great training runs and the course was really hard,” Kingsbury said. “In the finals, I heard the scores of Patrick Dineen and Matt Graham, and I knew I had to have a perfect run. I did one of my best ever. My two jumps were almost perfect.”

The Dufour-Lapointe sisters also had a good day on the hill, with Justine taking second place and Chloe winning third.

The Montreal natives were beat by K.C. Oakley of the U.S., who posted a score of 82.53. It was Oakley’s first-career world cup win.

Justine scored a 79.46 on her run, narrowly beating Chloe, who posted a 79.28.Maxime Dufour-Lapoint finished in fifth place with a score of 77.15.

“The runs wore tough,” Justine said. “I skied well, very well, but I lacked speed prior to my 360 (on the first jump). With it, I would have won.

“I was fast today.”