Beida Lake, China – Olympic champion Hannah Kearney won her 15th consecutive FIS Freestyle World Cup Sunday in China on Sunday to eclipse Swedish alpine legend Ingemar Stenmark as the record holder for the longest FIS World Cup win streak in all disciplines. Mikael Kingsbury of Canada was Sunday’s men’s champion.

Kearney’s win streak began Jan. 22, 2011 in Lake Placid, N.Y. She qualified for Sunday’s finals in first place, then had a bobble in finals, squeaking into the Super Finals in fourth. The new Super Finals format gave Kearney the chance for another run to win.

“I made the Super Finals in fourth place and had to really ski for my life,” Kearney admitted. “I skied aggressively and went really big off the bottom air and was rewarded with the victory.

“The course wasn’t really suited for my type of skiing (small bumps and shallow pitch) so I worked on it all week. I qualified first for finals, but in the first round of finals made a mistake on the second mogul. Luckily, with all my competitive experience I knew that it was never over till it’s over. I pulled it together and skied a really clean run from there down.”

Of her winning streak, Kearney added, “It’s insane. I had no idea about the record. It’s great to have this record as a freestyle skier. Alpine has a lot more races thus more opportunities to start a streak. That is the biggest honor that I can possibly receive considering all the amazing athletes that have crossed through the FIS World Cup circuit throughout the years.”

Canadian Justine Dufour-Lapointe earned her sixth silver medal of the season  and Yulia Galysheva of Kazakhstan was third. Dufour-Lapointe’s older sister Chloé Dufour-Lapointe was just off the podium in fourth.

Dufour-Lapointe, of Montreal, Quebec, said her performance on Sunday was the closest she’s come to edging the seemingly unbeatable Kearney. “And, I didn’t even make my best 360 today,” she added, “So it’s good to know that I’m getting close to her.”

She was also happy to be in the super final with her sister Chloé. “We were excited that we might be able to do a small sister sweep,” she said.

All six U.S. women made finals. Eliza Outtrim, of Hamden, Conn., was seventh, followed by Vail, Colo.’s Heidi Kloser in 12th, Brittany Loweree  of Point Lookout, N.Y. 13th, Piedmont, Calif.’s K.C. Oakley 14th, and Heather McPhie, of Bozeman, Mont., rounding out U.S. women in 15th. As for other Canadian women, Quebec City’s Audrey Robichaud narrowly missed super final and finished in fifth position. Maxime Dufour-Lapointe also made finals and finished 10^th.

In Sunday’s men’s competition, Canadian mogul wunderkind Kingsbury won his seventh FIS World Cup gold and eighth medal of the season with a score of 26.53. He was joined in the super final by teammates Philippe Marquis and Marc-Antoine Gagnon. Marquis tied for silver with Dimitriy Reiherd of Kazakhstan at 25.34. Gagnon finished just outside the podium in fourth at 24.56, tying his best career performance.

Kingsbury, who’s six-win streak was broken last week in a duals event at Deer Valley Resort in Utah where he had to settle for silver, said, “I’m happy, I’m still perfect in singles for the season and I feel good, maybe I’ll start a new streak.”

But, the Deux-Montagnes, Quebec native quickly clarified, “Actually, I really don’t focus on the wins, I am just trying to focus on being consistent every run and not make mistakes. So, every course I for sure try to find the strategy that will give me my best performance, but not to focus just on winning.”

Patrick Deneen, of Cle Elum, Wash.,qualified in second and finished fifth for the best U.S. men’s result on the day. Butte, Mont.’s Bryon Wilson was 11th with younger brother Bradley Wilson 14th and David DiGravio, of Farmington, Maine, finishing 16th. Langley, British Columbia’s Eddie Hicks and St. Sauveur, Quebec’s Cedric Rochon rounded out the Canadian men’s showing by reaching the finals, finishing in seventh and ninth positions, respectively.

The next stop on the FIS Freestyle World Cup for moguls is in Naeba, Japan this weekend.

OFFICIAL RESULTS
FIS Freestyle World Cup
Beida Lake, China – Feb. 12, 2012
Moguls

Women:

Men: