Photo: Mateusz Kielpinski (FIS)
Photo: Mateusz Kielpinski (FIS)

Kingsbury wins gold, first career podium for Schwinghammer at FIS Freestyle World Cup in Bakuriani

Mikaël Kingsbury won the men’s parallel moguls event Saturday at the FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup in Bakouriani, Georgia, as Maia Schwinghammer won the silver medal in the women’s dual moguls event, capturing the first World Cup medal of her career.

The “King of Moguls” brings his World Cup podium streak to seven this season, having won a medal in each of the events over the weekend, both in dual moguls and in the individual moguls event where he won bronze on Friday.

In the gold medal final, Kingsbury faced Japanese Ikuma Horishima, who took gold in the individual moguls event the day before. The Canadian won his fourth World Cup victory of the season. American Nick Page edged Swede Filip Gravenfors for the bronze medal.

Earlier in the competition, Kingsbury won his duels against Australian Cooper Woods in the quarter-final and against Gravenfors in the semi-final.

In the women’s event, Schwinghammer was competing in a dual moguls medal round for the first time in her career.

The 22-year-old skier finished behind Australian Jakara Anthony, who has reached the podium at every World Cup event in 2023-2024, now accumulating six gold medals and one bronze. The bronze medal final was all-American, with Jaelin Kauf winning the battle against Alli Macuga.

Finishing third in the men’s moguls on Friday, Kingsbury shared the podium with Horishima, who took first place with 77.11 points, and Gravenfors in second place with 75.85 points. Kingsbury scored 75.21 points.

Kingsbury is on a podium streak so far this season, landing himself on the podium four weekends with seven top-three finishes this season. He leads the World Cup standings for the moguls, dual moguls, and overall moguls.

This latest podium brings Kingsbury’s World Cup podium total to 122–with 84 of those being victories–out of 142 starts.

Kingsbury’s victory last weekend at Alpe D’Huez was extra special, as he shared the podium with fellow Canadian Elliot Vaillancourt, marking the latter’s first ever World Cup podium.