Canadian moguls skier Mikael Kingsbury won his record-breaking 47th World Cup event, while Jaelin Kauf became the first U.S. mogulist to qualify for PyeongChang in Park City, Utah, on Wednesday night.
Kingsbury, the Sochi silver medalist, won for the 12th straight time on the World Cup, extending an unbeaten run since last January.
Arguably the most dominant athlete in winter sports today also passed U.S. Olympic champions Donna Weinbrecht and Hannah Kearney for the most career World Cup wins in moguls and dual moguls combined.
It took Weinbrecht 112 starts to reach 46 wins. It took Kearney 117 starts.
Kingsbury, 25, surpassed them in his 85th start, winning 55 percent of his career races and making the podium 80 percent of the time.
“They’re big legends, and to pass them is a big honor,” he said after Wednesday’s victory.
American Bradley Wilson took third in the men’s event and looks likely to make his second Olympics after finishing 20th in Sochi.
In the women’s event, Americans Kauf and Morgan Schild took second and third behind Frenchwoman Perrine Laffont.
Kauf, the 21-year-old daughter of two moguls skiers, clinched the first U.S. Olympic moguls berth. She has a win and two runners-up in five races this season and leads the World Cup standings.
Schild will clinch an Olympic spot with a podium in Thursday’s moguls event in Park City or next week in Canada. Even without a podium, she will still likely be named to her first Olympic team by a selection committee.
Wednesday also marked the first World Cup that none of the three Canadian Dufour-Lapointe sisters finished in the top eight in nearly seven years.
The top sister was Chloe in 20th place. Justine and Chloe went one-two in Sochi.
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