The Canadian moguls team walked away from another weekend with multiple medals, this time battling it out at Are, Sweden. The team won six out of 12 medals.
Alex Bilodeau won both the single and dual moguls competitions, moving into striking distance of French skier Guilbaut Colas for first place in the overall standings. After a slow start, Bilodeau has been perfect recently, and has been either first or second in eight of the last nine competitions.
"The moguls here are a bit bigger than we're seen all season, and they're firm - like we ski in Quebec," said Bilodeau. "I think that gave me an edge because I could really showcase my absorption technique."
With one event remaining, Bilodeau has 679 points, while Colas has 741. A win is worth 100 points.
In the opening single moguls competition, Bilodeau and teammate Mikael Kingsbury were first and third respectively, with Colas taking the silver medal. Whistler skier Eddie Hicks, fresh off an overall win in NorAms, placed a solid fifth. Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau was sixth, Cedric Rochon 10th and Marc-Antoine Gagnon 11th.
On the women's side, Jennifer Heil earned a silver medal behind American Hannah Kearney, who is the most dominant female skier in freestyle history with eight wins and 11 podiums in 12 events.
Kristi Richards was fourth behind American Heather McPhie. Audrey Robichaud was fifth, Chloe Dufour-Lapointe sixth and Justine Dufour-Lapointe 11th. Whistler's Chelsea Henitiuk just missed the finals, placing 15th.
On day two, a dual moguls competition, Bilodeau edges Colas to take the win in the finals. Mikael Kingsbury was in position to win another bronze, but was edged by Patrick Deneen of the U.S.
Simon Pouliot Cavanagh was fifth for Canada, Cedric Rochon placed ninth, Marc-Antoine Gagnon was 12th and Eddie Hicks placed 13th after getting bumped out of contention in the first round by Pouliot Cavanagh.
On the women's side, Justine Dufour-Lapointe captured the silver medal behind Hannah Kearney, while Jennifer Heil won her dual in the small finals to take the bronze. Chloe Dufour-Lapointe was ninth, Audrey Robichaud 10th and Chelsea Henitiuk 16th.
"I really focused on what I had to do today," said Justine, who has three World Cup medals to her credit at just 16 years old. "I try not to think about who is next to me in duals, I just think about keeping my speed and staying in my line."
For Heil, who is retiring at the end of the season, the bronze medal represented her 57th trip to the podium. After being edged by Justine in the semi-finals, she gave credit to her teammate: "Justine represents the future of the sport and she will have a long and strong career."
