Freestyle skier Kingsbury starts strong

THE CANADIAN PRESS

SAINTE-ADELE, Que. -- New Canadian ski star Mikael Kingsbury continued his strong start to the season, winning the dual moguls event Saturday at the Canada Post Grand Prix at Ski Mont Gabriel.

The 19-year-old from Ste-Agathe, Que., now has three World Cup wins in as many tries in 2011-2012.

"What a dream season I've had so far," Kingsbury said following the win, adding it was extra sweet to perform well in front of friends and family at the hill north of Montreal.

"I'm really happy to do this in front of them," he said. "This is where I learned to ski."

Kingsbury beat out Jeremy Cotta of the United Sates and Andrey Volkov of Russia for the victory.

On the women's side, American Olympic champion Hannah Kearney took first place, ahead of Montreal's Justine Dufour-Lapointe.

"Hannah and I pushed each other," said Dufour-Lapointe, 17.

"It's too bad I went off the course in the finals... But I think in my second year on the circuit, I'm going to make a few mistakes."

Ekaterina Stolyarova of Russia finished third, while Chelsea Henitiuk of Edmonton finished fourth, a personal best.

Meanwhile, Canada's Olympic mogul champ Alexandre Bilodeau faltered in his return to the circuit, missing his landing in a jump during qualifying.

The 24-year old from Rosemere, Que., decided to take a break from a sabbatical to compete near his hometown.

Bilodeau is taking most of the year off to spare some pounding on his knees and work on a university degree before getting ready for the 2014 Olympics.

Kingsbury now has 300 points on the World Cup circuit this season, 110 more than American Sho Kashima.

Kearney also has 300 points to lead the women's side. With her second-place finish, Dufour-Lapointe moves into second place on the circuit, nine points ahead of American Aliza Outtrim.

Henitiuk moves to seventh place with 82 points, two ahead of Justine's sister, Maxime Dufour-Lapointe.