Canadian freestyle skier star Mikael Kingsbury is juggling both moguls and fatherhood. The 32-year-old Olympic and world champion from Deux-Montagnes, Que., opens his World Cup season Saturday in Ruka, Finland, with partner Laurence Mongeon and their infant son Henrik in tow.
Henrik was born Aug. 25. “It changes your life, that’s for sure,” Kingsbury said Tuesday from Ruka in a media conference call.
“Get used to waking up in the middle of the night, but at the same time, it is the most beautiful thing in the world. “It brings a beautiful balance to my career.” While Kingsbury acknowledges there are great hockey players named Henrik, he says the inspiration for the name was his niece liking a boy named Henrik in her kindergarten class.
“I always liked the name anyway,” Kingsbury said. “Laurence and I agree it fits his face. “I didn’t ski as much this summer because I wanted to be home and I wanted to be present.
We’re five weeks on the road for the start of this season, so I couldn’t see myself doing five weeks without seeing my kid. “I would have missed my family too much, so I brought them on the road for three weeks.” Regarded as the most dominant moguls skier of all time, the Canadian achieved another significant milestone last season when he surpassed Swedish alpine skier Ingemar Stenmark for the most all-time World Cup victories by a male athlete in any ski discipline.
Kingsbury embarks on his 16th World Cup season with a career 90 victorie.