(Almaty) Quebecer Mikaël Kingsbury concluded another dominant season in freestyle skiing in style by winning the men’s dual moguls event on Saturday at the World Cup in Almaty, Kazakhstan.
In the Grand Final, Kingsbury defeated Sweden’s Walter Wallberg 22-13 for the 80th career World Cup victory.
Australian Matt Graham, whom Kingsbury had beaten 21-14 in the semi-final, won the small final 22-13 against Japan’s Ikuma Horishima, and he finished the event in third position.
With his victory on Saturday, Kingsbury also got his hands on the crystal globe of the discipline, which comes in addition to those he was already guaranteed to win, either in the general classification and in individual races.
Helped by three wins in six dual mogul events, Kingsbury finished the season with a total of 462 points, compared to 374 for Wallberg, his closest rival.
In 12 World Cup outings in 2022-23, Kingsbury has finished first six times and second on five other occasions. The only stain on this impressive record is his 29th place in the dual moguls event in Alpe d’Huez, France, on December 17.
Kingsbury also won their seventh and eighth world titles last month in Georgia.
Kingsbury had earned their place through to the grand final following wins over South Korea’s Daeyoon Jung 20-15 in the round of 16 and then over American Nick Page 31-4 in the quarter-finals.
Three other Canadians took part in the competition. Of the group, Elliot Vaillancourt is the one who did the best by reaching the quarter-finals, where he lost to Graham, 21-14.
Gabriel Dufresne and Julien Viel were eliminated after the round of 16. Dufresne lost by a tight score of 19-16 against Wallberg.
On the women’s side, Frenchwoman Perrine Lafont beat American Jaelin Kauf 21-14 in the grand final. Laffont ends the season ranked first overall.
Olivia Giaccio, also from the United States, won the small final against her compatriot Alli Macuga 20-15. No Canadians took part in the competition.
