Canadian Olympic gold medalist Mikael Kingsbury of Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, Quebec won a silver medal on Friday in his final World Cup race before the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. In Deer Valley, Utah. Kingsbury placed only behind his number one competitor heading into Beijing, Ikuma Horishima of Japan.
Kingsbury had 82.84 points, as he reached the podium by 4.17 points over Ludvig Fjallstrom of Sweden, who finished in fourth place with 78.67 points. Horishima won the gold medal with a score of 84.04 points, while Walter Wallberg of Sweden won the bronze medal with a score of 79.62 points.
Horishima won the gold medal despite a slight bobble on his final jump. He placed higher than Kingsbury because he had a higher degree of difficulty with his jumps. Where Kingsbury has the edge over Horishima is his consistency in executing the actual moguls down the hill. However on Friday, Horishima did a much better job on Friday than he did on Thursday, when he was beaten by Kingsbury.
In the World Cup standings, Kingsbury leads with 572 points. Horishima is in second with 560 points. Kingsbury won the gold medal in men’s moguls at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in Pyeongchang. The Olympic men’s moguls competition will take place on February 5 at 5:30 am MT.