It was an historic afternoon in Ruka (FIN) for the first moguls World Cup of the 2015/16 season as 23 years old Mikael Kingsbury (CAN) put his name in the history books with his 29th World Cup win, while in the ladies’ competition the USA's Mikaela Matthews showed extreme determination on her way to scoring the first victory of her career.
Under the northern lights of Arctic Circle, 80 skiers from 15 different nations were on hand to challenge Ruka's famous Battery course, as the annual World Cup season-opening venue again proved to be a great start to the new season.
It was all eyes on Kingsbury today as he looked to best the record for the most career men's moguls wins secured by French legend Edgar Grospiron (FRA) nearly 21 years ago.
And, with his eyes on that prize, Kingsbury looked to be on a mission today, storming through both qualifications and the finals with his trademark confidence and style, coming out on top time and again on the road to perhaps the biggest World Cup win of his career.
"I tried really hard this summer and I've always felt really good coming into the competitions in route. I've won here several times, though not last December," said Kingsbury, "This is my 29th World Cup win, and now I've just beat the famous Olympic champion, world champion and World Cup winner Edgar Grospiron's record."
Second place on the day - and the second podium of his World Cup career - went to French skier Benjamin Cavet, while Ikuma Horishima, an up-and-comer from Japan who only just turned 18 on Friday, was able to steal third spot from last year's Ruka winner Philippe Marquis (CAN) for his first career podium.
On the ladies side it was a little bit of a different feeling to start the season, with the noticeable absence of the long-time and now-retired queen of moguls, Hannah Kearney (USA). It was expected that in the absence of Kearney, one of Justine, Chloe, or Maxime of the Dufour-Lapointe (CAN) sisters fame would step up in Ruka and take top spot in the World Cup opener.
However, it was Mikaela Matthews (USA) who was able to hold it together through the tough head-to-head dual moguls format and start the season off strong for the US squad, disappointed Canadian fans while providing a positive launching point for the season for the US.
"I was just looking for a top 16 rank coming into the season and I'm absolutely in heaven given that this is my first win ever here in Ruka," said Matthews after her best career’s performance.
Matthews handily bested Regina Rakhimova (RUS) by a score of 23 to 12 in the final, though Rakhimova left the competition thrilled herself, having finally scored her first career podium in her 64th World Cup competition.
Chloe Dufour-Lapointe was able to ensure that the Canadian ladies were not shut out of the podium, taking on and defeating Norway's Hedwig Wessel in the small final to take third place.
The Moguls World Cup continues in the New Year with both single and dual moguls competitions scheduled to take place in Lake Placid (USA) on 13th and 14th of January.
Source: fis-ski.com
