Mikaël Kingsbury wins final dual moguls event of the season
Mikaël Kingsbury secured two crystal globes by triumphing in the parallel moguls event at the FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Saturday.
With the win he completes a double, having won the individual event the day before.
In his 150th career start, making him the most experienced among the men, Kingsbury obtained his 89th victory and the 128th podium of his career.
Five of these victories, as well as another podium, came in the dual moguls event this season. He added five more wins and three more podiums in the individual event.
“It was a good battle in the individual event where I tried to win the Crystal Globe to complete the hat-trick,” Kingsbury said. I was still very motivated today even though I knew I had a good lead in the parallel event. I didn’t want to ruin it.’
On his way to the final, the skier from Deux-Montagnes had to successively eliminate Americans Cole MacDonald, Nick Page and Landon Wendler.
In the final descent against Pavel Kolmakov of Kazakhstan, Kingsbury took advantage of a fall by the crowd favourite approaching the second jump to secure victory.
In the finish area, he dedicated his victory to his doctor, Dr. Francis Fontaine, who had died the day before.
“I would like to dedicate this victory to my doctor who passed away yesterday. I wanted to ski well for him and I’m sure he helped me today,” he said.
From 2012 to 2020, Kingsbury won nine consecutive Crystal Globes as the top male skier in all freestyle skiing events in addition to finishing first in the men’s moguls standings on the World Cup circuit.
After missing almost the entire 2020-2021 season due to injury, he captured six more Crystal Globes over the next two seasons by finishing first in the World Cup standings for the individual event of moguls, parallel moguls and both events combined.
Among the Canadians participating in the competition, Julien Viel was eliminated in the quarter-finals while Gabriel Dufresne and Elliot Vaillancourt both saw their journey end in the round of 16.
The season will conclude next Saturday in Chiesa in Valmalenco, Italy, with a parallel event.
Kingsbury gold medalist in final individual moguls event of the season
On Friday, he scored 84.89 in the final to finish first by 1.41 points over Japanese rival Ikuma Horishima. Australian Matt Graham rounded out the podium in third place with 80.81 points.
That runner-up finish was just enough for Horishima to secure the moguls Crystal Globe by 10 points over Kingsbury. The 31-year-old Canadian still leads the overall World Cup standings for dual moguls as well as the combined rankings for moguls and dual moguls. Saturday will feature the penultimate dual moguls event of the season before the finale next Saturday in Chiesa in Valmalenco, Italy.
Kingsbury can now boast having 88 career World Cup victories and 127 career World Cup podiums. Four of those victories came in moguls events this season, along with three other podium finishes. He missed the moguls podium just once.
From 2012 to 2020, Kingsbury won nine straight Crystal Globes as the top-ranked skier across all the men’s freestyle events, in addition to being the top-ranked men’s moguls competitor on the World Cup circuit. After missing most of the 2020-21 season due to injury, he claimed six more Crystal Globes over the next two seasons by finishing first in the World Cup standings for moguls, dual moguls, and both events combined.
