Quebec's Mikaël Kingsbury, the youngest individual winner at Alpe d'Huez in France, is having a start to the season that allows him to dream of adding to his impressive collection of crystal balls. His next day would actually be his 25theone more than the number of Stanley Cups won by the Montreal Canadiens.
Kingsbury, who leads the overall standings, particularly impresses in the individual, where he, like the other competitors, has the privilege of choosing his course. His preparation, consistency and experience make the difference.
• Also read: Quebec is at the top of the podium thanks to Kingsbury and Vaillancourt
“The results are incredible, but I know I can ski even better and that I have extra speed that I could bring to the individual,” Kingsbury said via video conference after his win on Friday, as quoted by Sportcom. I’ll put on the gum I need.”
This promises to get one, two or three additional Globes by the end of the season!
Before Horishima and Wallberg
A victim of his success, the Quebecer surprises observers even more when he is not on the first step of the podium because he is so used to it. The situation is not trivial since, at 31, Kingsbury is the oldest among the workers on the World Cup circuit. The athlete from Deux-Montagnes avoids any disappointment because he has won a medal in each of the five competitions in which he has taken part since the beginning of December, thus signing a series of three consecutive victories.
After a bronze medal in the Ruka individual competition to open the campaign in Finland, the Quebec champion completely dominated the competition in Sweden and France. This means that in the individual ranking he has 260 points ahead of the Japanese Ikuma Horishima (200 points) and the Swede Walter Wallberg (130 points). The latter, who beat Kingsbury at the 2022 Beijing Olympics, failed to pass the qualifying phase on French soil in the singles, giving Kingsbury a lead.
Swedish opposition
There were no duels in Ruka, while in Sweden Kingsbury completed a doubles and then won the singles before finishing last weekend with a bronze medal in the second event on Saturday in Alpe d'Huez. In the overall ranking of parallel moguls, the Quebecer is tied with the Swede Rasmus Stegfeldt at the top with 160 points, while Wallberg follows with 150 points.
“It was a good weekend for me,” Kingsbury summed up his stay in France in an interview with Sportcom. I am happy with my energy level and how I feel. I know I can compete in any duel.”
Before losing to Wallberg in the semi-finals, the Quebecer had notably defeated the Kazakh Pavel Kolmakov and the Frenchman Benjamin Cavet in previous duels.
Hats off to Vaillancourt!
In addition to Kingsbury, we must remember the second place achieved by Quebec's Elliott Vaillancourt in the individual in Alpe d'Huez on Friday. With this result, Vaillancourt also moves up to fifth place in the discipline rankings with a total of 92 points.
Kingsbury and Vaillancourt will be among the athletes present at the Val-Saint-Côme portion of the World Cup in January. Until then, the competition will continue on December 22nd and 23rd, just before the short holiday break, in Bakouriani, Georgia.
Moguls World Championships
In individual (after three events) – points
1- Mikaël Kingsbury (Canada) 260
2- Ikuma Horishima (Japan) 200
3- Walter Wallberg (Sweden) 130
4- Filip Gravenfors (Sweden) 111
5- Elliot Vaillancourt (Canada) 92
Overall ranking (individuals and duels) – points
1- Mikaël Kingsbury (Canada) 420
2- Ikuma Horishima (Japan) 300
3- Walter Wallberg (Sweden) 280
4- Rasmus Stegfeldt (Sweden) 222
5- Filip Gravenfors (Sweden) 192