Mikael Kingsbury and Perrine Laffont make history with dual moguls world titles in Bakuriani
Fresh from their singles moguls wins yesterday, the two Olympic gold medallists both completed a double victory at the 2023 Freestyle Ski and Snowboard World Championships in Georgia.
Freestyle Skiing
A day after their moguls singles victories at the 2023 Freestyle Ski and Snowboard World Championships, Mikael Kingsbury and Perrine Laffont secured the men's and women's dual moguls titles on Sunday (26 February).
Frenchwoman Laffont qualified for the women's dual moguls big final in Bakuriani with victories over Makayla Gerken Schofield of Great Britain and Austria's Avital Carroll in the quarter and semi-finals respectively.
In the final, PyeongChang 2018 moguls Olympic gold medallist Laffont posted a score of 20.00 to clinch the gold medal, while USA's Olympic silver medallist Jaelin Kauf settled for second with 15.00.
“The night before was complicated, I didn't sleep much," Laffont said after.
"But I'm so happy to have managed to hold out until the end. This title, I really went looking for it deep and in pain. There was the physical fatigue of the past five days, my legs were sore... the adrenaline rush has to be managed. I couldn't ask for more."
A fifth world title overall (including dual victories in 2017 and 2019 and singles wins in 2021 and 2023), means that Laffont is now the most successful female mogul skier in World Championships history.
Bronze went to Avital Carroll, who rebounded from her crash in the semi-finals to defeat Hannah Soar with a score of 22.00, compared to the USA skier's 13.00.
There are few words and can adequately describe the brilliance of Mikael Kingsbury.
After breaking his back in a crash in 2020, the Canadian Olympic gold medallist miraculously returned to win silver at Beijing 2022, and has looked back to his very best in Bakuriani this week.
Fresh from his singles moguls win, Kingsbury scored 24.00 to brush aside the 11.00 of France's Benjamin Cavet in the quarter-finals.
It was a much closer contest in the semi-finals where the three-time Olympic medallist edged past Kazakhstan's Pavel Kolmakov, 18.00 to 17.00.
Another thrilling contest in the final saw Kingsbury beat Sweden's reigning singles moguls Olympic champion Walter Wallberg, 19.00 to 16.00.
That win means that Kingsbury now has eight world titles to his name, and the first athlete to win four world titles in this event. He will be the early favourite to land dual moguls gold at Milano Cortina 2026, where the discipline will make its Winter Olympics debut.
Brzone went to Matt Graham of Australia with 20.00, who beat Kolmakov's 15.00.