Music: {allcanada} BILODEAU, HEIL ADVANCE TO CANADA POST FINALS IN MOGULS

Friday, January 28, 2011

{allcanada} BILODEAU, HEIL ADVANCE TO CANADA POST FINALS IN MOGULS

CALGARY - Olympic gold medallist Alexandre Bilodeau and silver medallist Jenn Heil were among eight Canadian mogul skiers who qualified Thursday for the finals of the Canada Post Grand Prix freestyle skiing World Cup event.

In men's qualifying, Mikael Kingsbury of Deux Montagnes, Que., led the qualification round, followed by Montreal's Bilodeau and France's Guilbaut Colas.

Rookie Simon Pouliot-Cavanagh of Quebec City and Cedric Rochon of St. Sauveur, Que., also qualified for Saturday's final.

"I was a bit more nervous than usual on top of the course today because there are some big moguls in the middle and I was going really far off the jumps in training," said Kingsbury, who is currently second in the World Cup standings. "But, I managed to keep it tight for my run so I'm super happy."

Marc-Antoine Gagnon of Terrebonne, Que., failed to advance to finals, but it did secure him a spot for next week's FIS world freestlye championships.

In women's action, World Cup points-leader Hannah Kearney from the United States qualified first. She was followed by Heil, who announced earlier this week that this will be her last World Cup on Canadian soil. Heather McPhie of the U.S. was third.

"I love this course, it's really technical," said Heil, from Spruce Grove, Alta. "I like the extra challenge, but I was off a bit today, so I'm going to have to go back and review it on video and come out a lot stronger on Saturday."

Montreal's Chloe Dufour-Lapointe, Chelsea Henitiuk of Spruce Grove and Quebec City's Audrey Robichaud also qualified. Robichaud also earned a spot at the world championships.

Montreal teenager Justine Dufour-Lapointe crashed before her second air and failed to advance.