Moguls, Men

Canadian Alex Bilodeau had won the men’s moguls at the last two editions of the Winter Olympics, but had retired after the 2014 season, which paved the way for his countryman Mikaël Kingsbury to reach the top of the podium at the 2018 Games. In addition to having been the runner-up in 2014, Kingsbury was the 2013 World Champion, the 2015 runner-up, the 2017 bronze medalist, and had been ranked number one in the World Cup circuit every year since the 2011-2012 season. He was not entirely bereft of competition, however; Japan’s Ikuma Horishima was the reigning World Champion in both moguls and dual moguls, while Anthony Benna of France had taken the moguls title in 2015.

Nonetheless, Kingsbury lived up to his reputation as the favorite in the first qualifying round by finishing well ahead of the rest of the field. His closest competition at this stage was Aleksandr Smyshlyayev of Russia, the 2014 Olympic and 2015 World bronze medalist who was appearing in his fourth Olympics. Horishima was fifth after the first day, while Benna qualified only in the second round. Kingsbury slipped to fourth in the tight first run of the final, with Japan’s Sho Endo, a longtime, but relatively unheralded, skier leading the pack. He had been 7th at the 2010 Olympics and 15th in 2014. Behind him were Australia’s Matt Graham, who had been 7th in 2014, and relative newcomer Daichi Hara of Japan, who had made his international debut only a year earlier. Horishima was seventh, while Benna and Smyshlyayev both failed to make the cutoff for the second run.

Kingsbury’s chances for gold improved after Endo fumbled his second run and failed to complete the course, while Horishima crashed and was also eliminated. Japan still had one competitor left in Hara, however, who managed to edge out Kingsbury in the rankings. In the final run, however, there was no doubting who the champion would be: Kingsbury, skiing in the penultimate spot, put on a spectacular performance that far eclipsed those that had gone before him. Hara skied well, but it was only good enough for bronze, allowing Kingsbury to successfully defend his nation’s title in the event and leaving Graham with the silver medal.