Vancouver, February 26, 2023 – Mikaël Kingsbury has clinched the double title at the Freestyle World Ski Championships! The Canadian, who won the gold medal in singles moguls yesterday, repeated the feat on Sunday, defending his world championship title in men’s dual moguls in Georgia.
In doing so, he claimed the eighth world championship title of his career, and his fourth in the discipline. Kingsbury also won double titles at the last two World Championships, which were held at Deer Valley and Almaty in 2019 and 2021.
“It’s really crazy! Three world championship double titles in a row, and six gold medals in my last six events at the competition. I’m exhausted right now!” stated the “King of Moguls” at the base of the hill, following confirmation of his victory.
In the final, Kingsbury was up against Walter Wallberg of Sweden, so the race was unsurprisingly close, right out of the gate.
The defending champion was the first to cross the finish line, with a narrow lead of five one-hundredths of a second. In the judges’ scores, Kingsbury came out ahead, 19-16.
“There were a lot of good races today. I’m just really proud of myself! I dug deep and called up all the energy I had left. I gave everything I had against Walter,” explained the champion.
The bronze medal went to Matt Graham of Australia, who finished second in Saturday’s singles event, just behind Kingsbury.
The journey to the top of the podium was not an easy one, making the moment even more special for Kingsbury, who was already assured of winning two Crystal Globes this season, even before the World Championships began.
“It was an exhausting day, starting in the round of 32 against my teammate Elliot. I felt like I needed sugar, and I was lacking energy. I wanted to build on that. Thank you to my entire team for the support.”
The skier from Deux-Montagnes succeeded in defeating his compatriot Elliot Vaillancourt, as well as Dylan Marcellini of the USA, to begin his day. He then bested Benjamin Cavet of France and Pavel Kolmakov of Kazakhstan to advance to the final.
Gabriel Dufresne also had an excellent day at the World Championships in Bakuriani.
He defeated Cole Macdonald of the USA 20-15 and Rasmus Karjalainen of Finland 22-13. However, he lost his quarter-final race to Kolmakov, 20-15.
Dufresne therefore rounded out the top five, earning the best result of his career in the event.
Julien Viel did not complete his run in the round of sixteen, and finished in sixteenth place. Elliot Vaillancourt and Brenden Kelly finished 20th and 31st.
In the women’s competition, Maia Schwinghammer’s day came to an end in her quarter-final race against Jaelin Kauf of the USA. She finished the day in eighth place. Laurianne Desmarais-Gilbert was eliminated in the round of sixteen. She finished the event in tenth place, a personal best for the Québécoise.
Like Kingsbury, Perrine Laffont of France also won a second gold medal in as many days in Bakuriani. She is now the most successful female moguls racer in history, with five world championships.
Laffont defeated Kauf in the super final. Avital Carroll of Austria completed the podium.
The World Championships are now over for the moguls racers. The final World Cup event of the season will take place from March 17-20 in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
