No Canadian will ever forget Alexandre Bilodeau. At the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, he captured the country’s first ever gold medal on home soil. Three years later, he’s still making his mark on the moguls stage, but now he has a shadow named Mikael Kingsbury. Both men have had tremendously successful seasons:
Bilodeau
Kingsbury
Alexandre Bilodeau
WikiCommons photo
There are 13 first place finishes between the two. Other than a one anomaly by Bilodeau during a February World Cup in Russia, both finished top five or better in every single event. The results are beyond impressive and it’s safe to say both are medal contenders with the Olympic Winter Games coming up next year.
Right now, Kingsbury and Bilodeau find themselves respectively sitting in the first and second spots on the FIS Freestyle Skiing Cup Standings list. The season is drawing to a close with only one World Cup event and two Nor-Am Cup events left. Kingsbury leads the pack with an impressive 81 points, while Bilodeau is in second with 72. Third place is currently occupied by Switzerland’s Alex Fiva with 64 points.
Mikael Kingsbury
WikiCommons photo
One person smiling widely at these results has to be Canada’s Assistant Chef de Mission for Sochi, Jean-Luc Brassard. His gold medal winning moguls run at the 1994 Olympic Winter Games in Lillehammer had the world buzzing about the excitement of freestyle skiing.
Canada’s history in the sport alone will make it one of the favorites next year and combined with the talent of both Bilodeau and Kingsbury, it’s going to be a must watch.
