Mikaël Kingsbury knew that everything was going to be decided in Almaty, Kazakhstan, for the crystal globe in individual moguls this season. The Quebecer did everything he could, winning this last stage of the World Cup season, but his Japanese rival did just enough to deprive him of a 25e quarry crystal globe.
Friday in Kazakhstan, Kingsbury signed his fifth victory of the season in individual moguls by obtaining a score of 84.89 in the super-final, which allowed him to defeat the Japanese Ikuma Horishima (83.48) by 1.41 points . Australian Matt Graham (80.81) finished third.
The Quebecer therefore did everything in his power to make up for his 30-point gap behind Horishima in the individual moguls rankings, but he would have needed the Japanese to finish third at best.
By finishing second, Horishima managed to finish the season with 610 ranking points, 10 more than Kingsbury, to capture the crystal globe of the discipline.
“I managed what I could manage, I controlled what I could control,” responded Kingsbury at the end of what he himself described as “a great day”.
“I knew it was going to be really difficult. He skied to win, but he skied to avoid making mistakes. »
The Quebecer stressed that he managed to implement the plan he had set before the event, but he paid tribute to Horishima for having managed to “keep his head cool to get the money” .
“Obviously I saw it coming, but at the same time I controlled what I could control, and then that was to give the best performance I could. After that it was up to the judges and it was really close,” Kingsbury said.
Among the other Quebecers who took part in the Almaty event, Julien Viel finished seventh, while Elliot Vaillancourt took 16e position. Gabriel Dufresne did not qualify for the final.
Although he missed the crystal globe in individual moguls, Kingsbury still leads in the general classification and in the parallel moguls. The next parallel moguls event will take place on Saturday, still in Almaty, while the next will take place on March 16 in Italy.
“A big day for me tomorrow (Saturday),” Kingsbury said. […] I still have some big skiing to do. »