Mikaël Kingsbury exorcised his demons on Saturday in Ruka, Finland. He had broken two thoracic vertebrae there last year. He won the gold medal there this year.
The “King” of moguls scored 82.99 points to take the top spot on the podium. He won ahead of Kazakh Pavel Kolmakov (82.10 pts) and Japanese Ikuma Horishima (81.12 pts) in this first World Cup competition of the season.
Kingsbury had been sidelined for two months after his injury on November 29, 2020. He had returned to competition at the World Cup in Almaty, Kazakhstan, and won two gold medals there.
In the ladies, Chloé Dufour-Lapointe took the 12e rank in the final, with 71.74 points. American Olivia Giaccio (78.51) won gold, Australia’s Jakara Anthony (78.17 pts) grabbed silver, while another American, Kai Owens (76.61 pts ), came away with bronze.
Canadian Sofiane Gagnon did not finish the race in Final 1. Her compatriots Justine Dufour-Lapointe, Maia Shwinghammer, Berkley Brown and Valérie Gilbert did not qualify for the final round.
More details will follow.