(Reuters) – Mikael Kingsbury will defend his men’s Olympic mogul title and Cassie Sharpe her halfpipe crown after they were named to the 24-member Canadian freestyle team for the Beijing Winter Games on Monday.
Canada has claimed 25 medals in Olympic freestyle (12 gold, nine silver and four bronze,) more than any other country, and will be aiming to add to that haul in Beijing next month.
It will be Kingsbury’s third Olympics. He captured a silver at the 2014 Sochi Olympics and gold four years later in Pyeongchang.
The 29-year-old Kingsbury has dominated the moguls scene, collecting 71 World Cup wins and 101 podiums.
“Each time I feel the same pride,” Kingsbury said in a statement. “This is the culmination of the last four years of work, and I look forward to being in Beijing with all the other athletes from Canada.”
Sharpe, coming back from a knee injury, will be pushed by Rachael Karker, who has climbed the podium in all three World Cup events this season and will be making her Olympic debut.
Other members of the team include moguls siblings Chloe and Justine Dufour-Lapointe, who will compete in their third straight Games together.
Chloe is looking to make history as the first female Canadian freestyle skier to compete in four Olympic Winter Games.
The men’s halfpipe team features Brendan MacKay, the overall World Cup champion this season, as well as world championship medallists Noah Bowman and Simon d’Artois.
(Reporting by Steve Keating in Toronto. Editing by Clare Fallon)
