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Samedi 14 décembre / Communiqué de presse officiel FIS
The FIS Freestyle Ski moguls World Cup got right back to business on Saturday with Perrine Laffont (FRA) and Ikuma Horishima (JPN) taking victories in the first of back-to-back competitions scheduled for this weekend in China’s prime ski resort at Thaiwoo.
Coming back to Thaiwoo for the fourth consecutive season, competition kicked off early on Saturday with the qualification round sending the top 16 women and the top 16 men through to the finals, where the best-of-the-best would drop in one after another to battle for the win.
In the ladies’ competition it was Perrine Laffont, who went for her second consecutive World Cup victory in 2019/20.
The 21-year-old skier from France started off in second spot after the qualification round, stepping it up in the finals with two flawless runs. And, her effort paid off, as Laffont grabbed her career’s 11th World Cup victory.
“I struggled a little bit in trainings, so I’m really happy to finish on top of the podium by the end of the day,” said Laffont,
“The course was really good, but the snow conditions were much different from what we had last week in Ruka. A little bit of soft snow, some ice too, so a bit more difficult, but also very fun to ski.”
Second place on the day went to top qualifier Yulia Galysheva of Kazakhstan, while Canada’s Justine Dufour-Lapointe rounded out the ladies’ podium in third. It was the first podium of the season for both Galysheva and Dufour-Lapointe.
Over on the men’s side it was Ikuma Horishima, who stormed to the top spot in the big final of top-6 athletes, impressing with his speed and massive jumps.
Horishima upset the big favourite for the win in China - Mikael Kingsbury (CAN), who was unbeaten on course in Thaiwoo up to this point.
However, on Saturday it was the 22-year-old Horishima, who burned all he had left in the tank with his final run of the day and outscored Kingsbury by 0.6 points - 86.9 to 86.3. It was the fifth World Cup victory of his career and his second podium of the season.
Kingsbury finished the competition in second place, while Benjamin Cavet of France grabbed his first podium of the 2019/20 campaign, completing men’s podium in third place.
“The competition is very strong this year so I’m happy with my second place,” said Kingsbury, “I’m still with yellow bib now tied with Ikuma (Horishima), which I think is the first time to happen in my career. And that’s cool too.”
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Le classement final hommes ICI
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Dimanche 15 décembre / Communiqué de presse FIS
The first dual moguls competition of the season took place on day 2 of the FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup event with Perrine Laffont (FRA) and Mikael Kingsbury (CAN) coming on top of the field to cap off an exciting weekend of moguls action in China.
In the ladies’ competition it was Perrine Laffont, who remains unbeaten so far in 2019/20 after taking her second of back-to-back victories on Sunday in Thaiwoo.
In the big final heat Laffont faced Jaelin Kauf (USA), but the US skier crushed out in the middle section of the course while trying to close the gap and leaving Laffont with an easy run to the finish line.
“I have to admit that I’ve been struggling with the course this week,” said Laffont, “I could not quite find the right line and I was really stressed coming into first heat of the day. But then I skied well and gain some more confidence so I’m happy to finish with another victory today.”
Despite going down in the big final Kauf wrapped up the competition in Thaiwoo with an impressive second-place finish, hugely improving on her yesterday’s 18th place in the single moguls events.
It was the first podium of the season for Kauf, as she moved into second place in the women’s World Cup standing.
However, after three competitions so far in 2019/20 Kauf sits over 150 points behind the current leader Laffont, who has exactly 300 points to her record for her three victories in Ruka and Thaiwoo.
Hannah Soar (USA) rounded out the women’s podium in third place for the best results in her World Cup career.
The 20-year-old US skier came on top of the small final against 19-year-old up-and-comer from Japan - Kisara Sumiyosh, who also impressed with her skiing on Sunday and made it into top-10 for the second time this season.
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Over on the men’s side of the event Mikael Kingsbury was back to his winning way, confidently climbing the ladder heat after heat to finally face Benjamin Cavet in the big final.
And despite all the efforts from the French skier, Kingsbury was just unbeatable on the day winning the final heat with 88.34 points to Cavet’s 84.80.
“You can see the level is very high this season,” said, “Ikuma (Horishima), Ben (Cavet) and other guys have been pushing me hard, so it’s nice to close out the weekend on top of the podium.”
Cavet finished the competition in second place for his second spot on the podium this weekend.
In men’s small final it was Saturday’s winner Ikuma Horishima (JPN), who came out victorious over Thomas Gerken Schofield (GBR), completing the podium in third place for his third World Cup top-3 of the 2019/20 season.
And while Gerken Schofield could not quite match the speed of Horishima in the small final, capping off the competition in fourth place is by far his career’s best World Cup result.
In the World Cup ranking Kingsbury is leading the field with 280 points after three competitions. Second in the standing Horishima has 240 points, while Cavet sitting in third is loosing almost 120 points to Kingsbury.
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The FIS Freestyle Ski moguls World Cup is heading for a holiday break now and will come back in the new year, with the next competition slated to go down in Tremblant (CAN) on January 25.
Le classement final hommes ICI
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Photo : FIS
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