Dual Moguls, Men

This was a new event on the Olympic Programme. It was contested in a single-elimination knockout format with 29 skiers starting. Athletes were judged on air form, turns, and speed in each run, and the first skier to finish the course did not necessarily win the dual. Seven judges gave five points apiece, with four turns judges, two for air, and one for speed, so a skier could obtain a maximum of 35 points.

The favorite was the Canadian superstar Mikaël Kingsbury, a five-time World Champion in the event, winning each title at which he competed since 2015. Other medal contenders were expected to be Japan’s Ikuma Horishima, who won the 2017 Worlds, and Australian Matt Graham, runner-up at the World Championships in 2021.

Horishima made it past his round two match-up with American Nick Page, despite seat-planting on his final jump, getting turned around and finishing his run while skiing backwards. Kingsbury, Horishima, and Graham made it to the semi-finals where they were joined by Japan’s Takuya Shimakawa, who was considered an outsider. In the semis Kingsbury crushed Shimakawa, 33-2, while Horishima defeated Graham, 21-14.

The final was close, but Kingsbury continued his global dominance, besting Horishima 20-15 for the gold medal. Graham easily bettered Shimakawa for the bronze medal.

This was Kingsbury’s fifth Olympic medal in his four Winter Olympics, as he had already taken silver in the men’s moguls at Livigno. His five medals in freestyle were the most by any man through 2026. Horishima had won bronze in the moguls, as he had done in that event at Beijing 2022.