Quebecer Mikaël Kingsbury wins the silver medal in Deer Valley

DEER VALLEY RESORT, Utah — Quebec’s Mikaël Kingsbury could have tasted his 78th career victory in singles, but the Australian Matt Graham came to snatch him at the last moment.

After a great run in the super final, Kingsbury finally won the silver medal in the Deer Valley Freestyle Skiing World Cup moguls event on Thursday night.

The athlete from Deux-Montagnes moved into first place with 83.65 points and watched Graham, the last skier to start, experience a sensational descent to win the gold medal ( 85.35).

Frenchman Benjamin Cavet climbed to the third step of the podium (81.82).

Holder of the yellow jersey, Kingsbury still took the opportunity to distance himself from the Japanese Ikuma Horishima in the general classification of the discipline. Horishima was unable to make the final on Thursday.

According to Kingsbury, conditions were a factor on Thursday.

« I’m happy with my result, » said Kingsbury. It was really not easy today with the weather conditions. It was hot during practice and the start of qualifying. However, when the sun went down it got quite cold and that changed the snow.

“In training for the final, I fell solidly. It had been a long time since I had had such a fall. It was a lot of teamwork to then get back on the track, with my physiotherapist, and make sure I was able to ski in the final.”

Quebecer Elliot Vaillancourt accompanied Kingsbury in the super final, but he was slightly offset on a few occasions during his descent. Vaillancourt nevertheless signed a good fifth position.

Among the women, the Canadian Maia Schwinghammer concluded the super final at the foot of the podium (74.16).

Australia’s Jakara Anthony completed the double for her nation by winning the women’s singles (80.15). American Jaelin Kauf (77.35) and French Perrine Laffont (77.17) followed.

Skiers will enjoy a short one-day break before taking part in the duel event in Deer Valley.

Vaillancourt started the final on the right foot posting a score of 77.32 as he was the first down the track. He wasn’t knocked off the top, however, until Graham, 14th out of 16, scored 81.27 points for his run.

Kingsbury, who was the second to last skier to make his run, has 80.50 points to take second place behind Graham. Cavet completed the final with 78.31 points to move into third place.

The surprise, however, came from Sweden’s Walter Wallberg, winner of the silver medal in singles and the gold medal in the duels at Val Saint-Côme last week.

Wallberg struggled with the Deer Valley track, including struggling to maintain his balance, and was ruled out of the super final after scoring 73.69 points, 11th overall.

Quebecers Julien Viel (74.88) and Louis-David Chalifoux (74.49) were just ahead of Wallberg.

Schwinghammer meanwhile managed to hold on to her spot in the super final when she finished sixth with 74.79 points. She quietly tumbled from the top as the top overall skiers took the start.

Japan’s Anri Kawamura, who scored twice in Val Saint-Côme, topped the final with 80.61 points, but did not complete her run in the super final.