Canadian moguls legend Kingsbury had family close to heart in silver-medal performance

As important ski competition has been for the majority of Mikaël Kingsbury's life, his family has been and will always be the priority.

That's why, in preparation to defend his Olympic gold medal on Saturday, he made sure they all knew he was thinking of them. 

Back inside the family home in Deux-Montagnes, Que., Mikaël's mother Julie, father Robert, brother Maxime and his family as well as Kingsbury's girlfriend Laurence Mongeon were dressed in Canadian colours cheering him on. Mikaël's sister, Audrey, was watching from her home with her newborn daughter.

Julie said ever since he started skiing competitively, on race day Mikaël would always make sure the family felt part of his performance. 

And in the early morning hours back home in Canada, he did it again.

"You know what he did this morning? He sent us a Snapchat of his helmet. He wrote the names of the whole family on his helmet. And the coaches and people who are close to him and are important to him," Julie Thibaudeau told CBC Sports. "He said 'I won't be alone in Beijing. You'll be with me.' And then he went for his competition. That's Mik."

Before the Olympics, Mikaël made sure the names of those who have helped in his pursuit of greatness were painted onto his helmet. 

"The names were painted in red so it's on the back of the helmet. At the Olympics there are certain rules. I don't even know if people would notice it," Julie said.  "We cried. It's so nice. Mik has always included us in his competition and in everything so we feel part of his success all the time. He's so kind."

Julie said the family began their day with the qualification races that started at 5 a.m. ET.

"We were all at the house watching Mik. We started watching at the beginning so it was really early," she said. "The whole family was there cheering and my god it was stressful."

Julie and Robert were at the bottom of the hill four years ago in South Korea when Mikaël skied to Olympic gold, but because of the challenges of the pandemic despite badly wanting to again experience the magic of that night.

And like he did four years ago, Kingsbury was second-last to compete. 

He was nearly flawless, posting a score of 82.18 points in the six-man super final at Genting Snow Park in Zhangjiakou.

"He was in control. He was intelligent and skiing well like Mik always does," Julie said. "You have to manage that stress and I thought he did it well. Even on his last run, I thought he skied so well."