Mikael Kingsbury of Deaux-Montagnes, Que. turns through his jump in moguls training for a FIS Freestyle World Cup in Meribel, France, Tuesday, December 14, 2010.Mike Ridewood
It might not quite have the cachet and pomp of the Olympic showcase last winter, but just having the chance to ski at home again is thrilling enough for Canada's freestyle team.
Post-Olympic doldrums are an occupational hazard in any sport, but as with every season following the Games, this year is also an opportunity for the emerging generation of athletes to step forward as another four-year cycle grinds to life.
The first to do so was 18-year-old mogul skier Mikaël Kingsbury, who finished second in the 2010-11 season's first World Cup race in Finland last month and followed up with his first career win in Beida Lake, China, two weeks later.
"It was like a dream, it's something I'd wanted to do for a very long time," he said.
This weekend, Kingsbury will have his first opportunity to strut his stuff at home - the World Cup circuit lands at Mont Gabriel, an hour's drive north of Montreal and just a short drive down the road from the mountain where he learned to ski.
"It's my backyard. … It's very exciting, it's the first chance I've had to race in front of so many family and friends," he said.
Though the team has seen several retirements since the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver - stalwarts such as aerialists Kyle Nissen and Steve Omischl, and mogul skier Vincent Marquis chief among them - former Olympic champions Alexandre Bilodeau and Jennifer Heil are back on their boards for another season.
"I love the ambience at Mont Gabriel, so I'll have a big smile. Everything is going great in my life except my race results, so we're going to have to remedy the situation," laughed Bilodeau, 23, whose best finish in the first half of the World Cup calendar was a fifth.
Bilodeau and Kingsbury will compete in the head-to-head dual moguls. On the women's side, moguls specialist Heil is looking to pull one over on U.S. rival Hannah Kearney, who pipped her for gold in Vancouver (Heil was trying to defend the title she'd won four years earlier in Turin) and has edged her in two World Cup races in December.
"The good news is I've finally figured out how to go fast again, now I just have to apply it to a race. … It's been so close, a total gun battle out there," said the 27-year-old Heil, who sits third in the overall World Cup standings and will lead a team that includes Justine Dufour-Lapointe, a 16-year-old from Montreal who won bronze in a race in France last month.
The competition this weekend will also feature an aerials competition. Alberta skier Warren Shouldice, who finished fourth in the last World Cup stop in China, will again measure himself against the all-powerful Chinese team.