Mikael Kingsbury of Canada competes in the Freestyle Skiing Men's Moguls Qualification 1 event at Phoenix Snow Park in Pyeongchang, South Korea. His knees are bent, and his skis are together as he skis over the right ride of a mogul. His arms are holding his poles as they dig into the snow. He is dressed in a white jacket and snow pants with red Olympic jersey overtop.Vaughn Ridley/COC
Vaughn Ridley/COC

Five Team Canada athletes qualify for moguls final at PyeongChang 2018

Five Canadian freestyle skiers booked their tickets to the moguls final at PyeongChang 2018 with strong runs in the first qualification round.

Mikaël Kingsbury began his quest for Olympic gold by finishing first in the men’s qualification run Thursday night (ET) at the Phoenix snow park with a score of 86.07.

Mikael Kingsbury of Canada competes in the Freestyle Skiing Men’s Moguls Qualification 1 event at Phoenix Snow Park on February 9, 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/COC)

Philippe Marquis qualified in eighth place with a score of 77.77 despite suffering a ruptured ACL only one month ago. He will join Kingsbury in the final.

On the women’s side, Andi Naude, Justine Dufour-Lapointe and Audrey Robichaud will also have the chance to ski for an Olympic medal. Naude had the best result, earning 79.60 points to qualify in second place. The youngest Dufour-Lapointe sister and Olympic champion qualified in fourth place with 77.66 points. With a score of 72.48, Robichaud qualified for the final in tenth place.

Andi Naude of Canada competes in the Freestyle Skiing Ladies Moguls Qualification 1 event at Phoenix Snow Park on February 9, 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/COC)

Chloé Dufour-Lapointe and Marc-Antoine Gagnon will have another chance to reach the final when they ski in the second qualifying round on February 11 at 5:30pm (ET).