Chiesa in Valmalenco ready for dual moguls World Cup action
Mar 11, 2022·Freestyle
More than a month away from thrilling moguls competitions at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, the world’s best freestyle skiers will get back to business as the FIS Freestyle Ski Moguls World Cup is gearing up for the penultimate stop of the 2021/22 season this Saturday, March 12 in Chiesa in Valmalenco (ITA).
Valmalenco has a deep history of hosting FIS competitions on all levels, from Europa Cup to World Cup events in both freestyle skiing and snowboarding.
The only time, however, that Chiesa in Valmalenco hosted the moguls World Cup competitions was back in 2008, and now more than 14 years later the circuit is set for an exciting come-back to the Italian resort with a dual moguls showdown at “Dosso” course at Alpe Palù this upcoming weekend.
Valmalenco is clearly a special place for most of the current moguls top guns, who used to battle for medals in numerous Junior World Championships events staged here over the years, including some of the past champions such as Perrine Laffont (FRA), Benjamin Cavet (FRA), Ludvig Fjallstrom (SWE), Bradley Wilson (USA), Olivia Giaccio (USA) and Elliot Vaillancourt (CAN).
Now the past, the present and the future of mogul skiing is on hand here in Valmalenco ready to compete on the biggest stage and with only three more competitions left in 2021/22 and the battle for World Cup titles still wide open for a handful of athletes, Saturday’s dual moguls event shapes up to be an exciting one.
Heading into Saturday’s competition it’s Jakara Anthony (AUS), who sits atop of dual moguls as well as overall moguls World Cup standings, and the Aussie skier is entering the event in Valmalenco as the brand new Olympic Champion. Anthony has one victory and one third place finish to her dual moguls record in 2021/22 and without a doubt she will be looking to defend her top spot in the ranking this Saturday.
But with only two dual moguls competitions staged so far in the campaign, we’re more than sure that Saturday’s competition will see plenty of athletes ready to give their best to upset Anthony on her mission to claim the historic first dual moguls World Cup title.
One name to keep an eye on this weekend is without a doubt Perrine Laffont (FRA), as the reining moguls World Cup champion will be looking to redeem herself after somehow a disappointing performance at the OWG, where she finished just outside the podium in fourth place.
Then going down the starting list we have Anri Kawamura (JPN), who did struggle so far in duals, but she is leading the way over in the moguls standing and is one of only three athletes, besides Anthony and Laffont, who can claim the overall moguls globe once the season wrap up in Megeve next weekend.
Of course let’s also not forget about always strong US squad led by the Olympic silver medallist Jealin Kauf, who will have a strong support from the likes of Olivia Giaccio, Tess Johnson, Kai Owens and Hannah Soar.
Moving over to the men’s event, obviously all eyes will be on Mikael Kingsbury (CAN), who is leading the way in all moguls standings - moguls, dual moguls and overall moguls.
Despite losing the Olympic gold to Walter Wallberg (SWE) just a couple of weeks ago in Beijing, Kingsbury became Canada’s most decorated freestyle skier and with his third Olympic medal he also tied Edgar Grospiron’s record for most Olympic podiums in mogul skiing history.
Now Kingsbury will be looking to extend his dual moguls winning streak and move just one step closer to claim all three moguls World Cup titles available in 2021/22.
When looking for other favourites in Valmalenco there is Ikuma Horishima (JPN), as well as Walter Wallberg (SWE), who shared the Olympic podium with Kingsbury and sit in the respective second and third place in moguls rankings.
Kosuke Sugimoto (JPN), Ludvig Fjallstrom (SWE), Benjamin Cavet (FRA) and Pavel Kolmakov (KAZ) will be also hoping for some good results in Italy in order to increase their chances to challange top riders in the battle for podium.
Last, but not least the veteran Bradley Wilson (USA) will be leading the US men’s moguls team with Nick Page and Cole McDonald also expected to show some explosive skiing this upcoming weekend.
The competition in Chiesa in Valmalenco are set to start with women’s and men’s preliminary rounds at 12:50 CET with finals following right after at 15:00.
WATCH LIVE
Saturday
Eurosport player (Europe), CBC Streaming (Canada), CT Broadcasting (Czech Republic), Viaplay (Denmark), Areena (Finland), L’Equipe (France), JSports 2 (Japan), TV3 Sport (Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania), streaming on JOJ TV (Slovakia), Peacock (USA), FIS Freestyle Youtube channel
QUICK LINKS
Chiesa in Valmalenco World Cup FIS data page (start lists, results, etc.)
