Freestyle skier Mikael Kingsbury had a dream year. His semi-invincibility in 2018 has earned him the Lionel Conacher Award as male athlete of the year, as awarded by the Canadian Press.
Kingsbury entered the men's moguls event in Pyeongchang as the odds-on favourite and met every expectation as he won the gold medal and was crowned Olympic champion.
The Quebec ski star was chosen by 30 of the 56 sportswriters and commentators from newsrooms across the country.
He beat out Edmonton Oilers centre Connor McDavid (12 votes), who won the Art Ross Trophy as the NHL's top scorer as well as the Ted Lindsay Award for outstanding player as selected by his peers.
Next on the list was soccer phenom Alphonso Davies with five votes, double speed skating Olympic medallist Ted-Jan Bloeman (3), para-skier Brian McKeever (3), New Jersey Devils winger Taylor Hall (2), and Ottawa Redblacks receiver Brad Sinopoli (1).
Golfer Brooke Henderson was awarded the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award as female athlete of the year on Wednesday for the third time. The sports team of the year will be named on Friday.
Kingsbury becomes the first ski athlete to win the Lionel Conacher Award, named after the multi-sport champion chosen as the top athlete of the first half of the 20th century in 1950.
Earlier this month, Kingsbury also received the Lou Marsh Award for top Canadian athlete, presented by the Toronto Star.
In January 2018, Kingsbury set a new record for World Cup wins with his 47th victory. He has now has 52 victories in 93 starts.
