Kingsbury & Schwinghammer ski to moguls podiums at world championships
Mikaël Kingsbury took silver in men’s moguls while Maïa Schwinghammer won bronze in women’s moguls on the first day of finals at the FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships in Engadin, Switzerland.
For Kingsbury, it is his 14th career world championship medal. It is the first time since 2017 that he has not been the world champion in moguls. He has never missed the world championship podium in the event. For Schwinghammer, it is her first time standing on a world championship podium. She had placed fifth in moguls at the 2023 World Championships.
Kingsbury earned a score of 82.68 points in the second final round. That left him 6.35 points back of Japan’s Ikuma Horishima, who scored 89.03 points to become a world champion for the third time in his career, but for the first time since 2017. Horishima got huge marks for his very difficult second air, a cork 1440, and also outscored Kingsbury on turns and time. South Korea’s Jung Daeyoon took the bronze with 81.76 points.
In his second world championship appearance, 23-year-old Canadian Julien Viel also advanced to the second final round and finished sixth overall with 58.36 points.
In the women’s event, Schwinghammer received a score of 74.92 points from the judges to land on the third step of the podium. She finished just 0.23 points back of Japan’s Hinako Tomitaka who won the silver medal. France’s Perrine Laffont won her third straight moguls world title with 77.92 points. Schwinghammer had the top air scores among the three medallists.
Finishing just off the podium in fourth place was another Canadian, 27-year-old Laurianne Desmarais-Gilbert. That is a big breakthrough for an athlete who has never posted a top-five finish on the FIS World Cup circuit.
The mogulists will be back in action on Friday for the dual moguls. Kingsbury has won three straight world titles in that event. He has only missed the dual moguls podium once at the world championships, back in 2017.
