Laffont and Kingsbury take wins and moguls titles in Megeve
Mar 19, 2022·Freestyle
The first day of action at the FIS Freestyle Ski Moguls World Cup finals in Megeve went down in extraordinary fashion, as Perrine Laffont (FRA) and Mikael Kingsbury (CAN) secured the moguls titles with epic victories in final single moguls event of the 2021/22 campaign.
After heavy clouds had caused a couple of start postponements throughout the day, the conditions on course in Megeve eventually improved and the sport’s best were given a chance to deliver their best runs in first of back-to-back competitions scheduled for this weekend in France. With plenty of spectacular runs already in the qualifications and a handful of athletes still fighting for the crystal globes, the finals were shaping up to be highly entertaining. And in fact, the first day of competition in Megeve didn’t disappoint…
Starting with women’s event Perrin Laffont came with an incredible performance to take everything there was up for grabs on Friday in Megeve. The 23-year-old won her 25th World Cup competition on Friday while claiming her career’s seventh crystal globe (including two overall freestyle globes) in what was the most contested battle for the title we’ve seen in a long time.
In the big Laffont stomped her trademark run including a 720 and a backflip with Japan grab, and with a score of 86.86 points she jumped right in front of Anri Kawamura (JPN) in first place with just one more athlete remaining in competition.
And that athlete was Jakara Anthony (AUS), who won the round of 16 with a superb run for well over 88 points as she was hoping to repeat it again in the big final. Once there, however, Anthony couldn’t quite perform her air tricks as smoothly as before and received 86.43 points, which was only enough for second place on the day.
With her top spot in Friday’s competition and with Kawamura finishing in third, all of a sudden it was Laffont who found herself atop the 2021/22 moguls standing, jumping into first place with astonishing clutch performance and winning the title by just a single point.
Kawamura finished the season in second place, racking up three victories while finishing outside top-3 only once in eight moguls event staged in 2021/22.
Anthony completed the women’s podium in third place with one victory and six more spots on the podium in the season.
Things were equally exciting also in men’s competition, as Mikael Kingsbury and Ikuma Horishima (JPN) was separated by only 12 points in the moguls standing ahead of Friday’s event. And again like many times previously this season it was Kingsbury and Horishima, who led the way along with Walter Wallberg through qualifications and the round of 16, while building up excitement for one of the most anticipated big final battles we’ve seen in the recent era of men’s mogul skiing.
First of the aforementioned trio to drop in was Horishima, who stomped a smooth run with some big airs and landed in first place with 86.23 points.
Dropping next was Wallberg and he also put down an impressive run of 85.13 points, which placed him right behind Horishima in second place.
With only Kingsbury left on top of the course, it was all down to this one final run, as the winner on Friday would also take home the 2021/22 moguls crystal globe.
And Kingsbury didn’t play it safe, but went all in on his final run, showing some breathtaking speed. He crossed the line in a record time, almost two seconds faster than Horishima and while the Canadian couldn’t quite match Horishima’s scores for turns and jumps, it was his speed which turned out to be the decisive factor on the night.
Once the final score of 86.27 points came in, it was clear that Kingsbury won not only Friday’s competition, but he also earned his 10th moguls title and his career’s 19th crystal globe in the process. All that as a result of edging out Horishima by the slightest of margins of 0.04 points.
Second on the day Horishima consequently also finished in a runner-up spot in the season’s final moguls standing, collecting three wins and top-3 finishes in all eight single moguls competitions in 2021/22.
Wallberg finished Friday’s event in Megeve in third place, also rounding out 2021/22 World Cup top-3 in third, after racking up four podium finishes in single moguls this season.
With the 2021/22 World Cup season coming to a close this weekend, USA’s Elizabeth Lemley and Cole McDonald were handed out the Rookie of the Year awards, while for the first time in history Japan won the Moguls Nations Cup for the best performing team across the single moguls competitions this season.
The FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup action continues on Saturday, with the fourth and final dual moguls showdown set to close out the 2021/22 moguls World Cup campaign. Qualifications are scheduled for 12:05 CET with finals following up right after 15:40.
WATCH LIVE
Saturday
Eurosport player (Asia) & Eurosport 1 (Europe), CBC Streaming (Canada), CCTV LIVE (China), streaming on CT iBROADCASTING (Czech Republic), streaming on Viaplay (Denmark), YLE Areena (Finland), La Chaine (France), Arena 4+ (Hungary), JSports 2 (Japan), TV3 Sport Open (Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania), V Sport 3 (Norway), Polsat Sport News (Poland), Viaplay (Sweden), streaming on Peacock and www.skiandsnowboard.live (USA), FIS Freestyle Youtube channel
QUICK LINKS
Megeve World Cup FIS data page (start lists, results, etc.)
Full competition programme: MOGULS / DUAL MOGULS
