Ste.Adèle (QC), Canada – Under blue skies and -20ºF temperatures on Saturday, Olympic champion Hannah Kearney, of Norwich, Vt., captured her first victory at Mont-Gabriel in Canada, extending her FIS Freestyle World Cup win streak to 10 consecutive trips to the top of the podium. Jeremy Cota, of Carrabassett Valley, Maine, joined Kearney on Saturday’s podium with a career best second place finish behind winner Mikael Kingsbury of Canada.

In women’s head-to-head action Canadian Justine Dufour-Lapointe went head-to-head with Kearney in the final dual of the day. Kearney edged Dufour-Lapointe for the gold after the 17-year-old Montreal native made a mistake just above the second jump.

“Justine really pushed me today, she’s a great skier and she was right there with me today,” said Kearney.

For her part Dufour-Lapointe said, “I’m really happy to win the silver. I did my best and skied really fast. My last dual was really fun, I managed to push Hannah — now she knows I’m here.”

It was Kearney’s third FIS Freestyle World Cup of the season, in which she retains her top overall ranking. Kearney remains undefeated over the past year. Cota’s second place marked his first trip to the podium this season.

“I had a wonderful season last year and it’s been really satisfying to have such a good, productive off-season really pay off. To come away with a victory is a nice improvement over last year,” said Kearney, who was knocked out of dual moguls in the quarterfinals at Mont-Gabriel last winter. “I’ve skied here a lot and never won, I even had a season ender here a few years ago. This is a great event because I have a lot of family and friends come out. I know a lot of people in the area, and it is makes it more memorable to have them here.”

Spruce Grove, Alberta’s Chelsea Henitiuk went against Ekaterina Stolyarova of Russia in the women’s small final. Stolyarova took the bronze, but Henitiuk was thrilled with her best ever FIS World Cup finish.

“I’m kind of in shock right now,” said a grinning Henitiuk, “I typically don’t do well on this course, so I had nothing to lose. So, I just pushed my limits and it paid off.”

Elia Outtrim, of Hamden, Conn., and Heather McPhie, of Bozeman, Mont., finished 5th and 7th, respectively. In addition to Dufour-Lapointe and Henitiuk, other Canadian women in the final included Maxime Dufour-Lapointe of Montreal who finished 6^th and Quebec City’s Audrey Robichaud in 13^th.

Like Kearney, Kingsbury, of Deux-Montagnes, Quebec, is also undefeated in moguls thus far this season. His win in the men’s contest on Saturday solidifies his grip on the FIS yellow leader’s bib with a 110-point lead over Sho Kashima, of South Lake Tahoe, Calif.

“When you touch the yellow bib you want to keep it,” said Kingsbury, “So now that I have it I don’t plan to let it go.”

Other Canadians who advanced to the 16-man finals on Saturday included team veteran Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau from Drummondville, Quebec who finished eighth; rookie Simon Lemieux from Repentigny, Quebec was an impressive 12^th in his first FIS World Cup start. Marc-Antoine Gagnon of Terrebonne, Quebec was 13^th; and Cedric Rochon of St.-Sauveur, Quebec was 15^th.

The U.S. Ski Team qualified four men  into the finals. In addition to Cota, Kashima just missed joining Cota on the podium, finishing in fourth place behind Russia’s Sergey Volkov. Joe Discoe finished 11th, followed by Patrick Dineen in 16th.

“We had four men and four women qualify for the finals, which was really good. Traditionally our results here have been a bit of a mixed bag, so today’s results were very good,” admitted Scott Rawles, the U.S. Ski Team Moguls Head Coach.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS Freestyle World Cup
Canada Post Grand Prix – Mont-Gabriel (QC), Canada – Jan. 14, 2012
Dual Moguls

Women:

Men

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