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Kingsbury's streak of 13 straight moguls wins ends; finishes second to Horishima

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MONT-TREMBLANT, Que. — Mikael Kingsbury's winning streak had to end some time.

It came on Saturday when Kingsbury's finished second to Ikuma Horishima of Japan at a World Cup freestyle skiing moguls competition at Mont-Tremblant. It ended the Deux-Montagnes, Que., skier's streak of 13 straight World Cup moguls victories.

Horishima put in a near-flawless run in the final to score 93.88 points while Kingsbury had one tiny stumble after the first of his two jumps and scored 93.27 points. Dmitriy Reiherd of Kazakhstan was third at 88.44.

In the women's moguls, Canada took the top two spots on the podium with Olympic champion Justine Dufour-Lapointe winning ahead of Andi Naude of Penticton, B.C. Yulia Gulysheva of Kazakhstan third.  

It was Kingsbury's first loss since he finished second on Jan. 28, 2017 to Australia's Matt Graham.

If it bothered the 25-year-old, he didn't show it.

"I didn't see his run, but I heard his score of 93 points," said Kingsbury. "I just told myself not to get excited, just do the run.

"Overall, it was a good run. I got 93 points so I'm not disappointed. I'm really not disappointed that my streak is over. I'm even glad we can put that aside. It stopped at 13, and I'm pretty sure that is a record that will be tough to beat in this sport."

It was the final World Cup before the Winter Olympics, which open Feb. 9 in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Marc-Antoine Gagnon of Montreal, the only other Canadian to reach the final, lost a ski in the middle section of the course and finished sixth.

Dufour-Lapointe posted her first win of the season with 87.43 points while Naude had 85.35 and Gulysheva 84.61. The victory came two days after she and her sisters Chloe and Maxine revealed that their mother has been battling cancer but is now in remission. Justine had said she felt ready to put on a show on home snow.

"I have so many emotions inside at the moment, you could say that I feel like crying," an emotional Dufour-Lapointe said. "I'm proud of myself. That victory signifies a lot.

"I just stopped reflecting and followed my instinct," she added. "I wanted to re-find Justine 'the Tiger,' the girl who goes for it, who stops thinking of others and who concentrates on herself. So I feel extremely liberated, especially to be able to leave for Pyeongchang with a gold medal around my neck."

Audrey Robichaud of Quebec City was fifth with 83.18, Chloe Dufour-Lapointe was sixth with 81.07, Alex-Anne Gagnon of Repentingy, Que., was ninth with 80.11 and Valerie Gilbert of Brossard, Que., was 10th with 79.55. Maxine Dufour-Lapointe was 27th with 74.46.

The Olympic team is to be named on Monday.

Alexandre Geoffrion-McInnis, The Canadian Press


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