Mikaël Kingsbury breezes through Olympic moguls qualifying, promises more to come

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Canadian moguls star Mikael Kingsbury breezed through qualifying Tuesday at the Milano Cortina Olympics, promising there is more to come.

World champion Ikuma Horishima of Japan topped the 30-man freestyle skiing qualifying field with a score of 85.42 at Livigno Aerials and Moguls Park in Livigno, Italy.

Quebec City’s Julien Viel was second at 79.56 with Kingsbury third at 79.11 while Elliot Vaillancourt of Drummondville, Que., was 16th at 73.48.

Horishima skied immediately after Kingsbury, knocking the Canadian out of top spot. Kingsbury was unfazed and unimpressed.

“Ikuma does his things,” Kingsbury said in French. “He raced like a final today, but the Olympic Games won’t be won today. He does what he wants, but I like the scenario that is building up.”

The 33-year-old from Deux-Montaignes, Que., finished runner-up to Horishima in the moguls at the March 2025 test event at Livigno. The Canadian won the dual moguls the next day, with Horishima second.

The top 10 progress directly to Final 1 at the games. The rest get a second chance via a second round of qualifying, with 10 more advancing. The top eight competitors after Final 1 then go after the medals in Final 2.

The men’s qualifying Tuesday was followed by the women, whose second round of qualifying and final goes Wednesday followed by the men Thursday.

Competing in his fourth Olympics, Kingsbury is looking to add to his existing medal haul of one gold, from Pyeongchang in 2018, and two silver, from Sochi in 2014 and Beijing in 2022.

“Mission accomplished,” said Kingsbury. “Not my best but we’re through ΓǪ The good part is I can go faster. I can improve my skiing and I can upgrade my two jumps.”

Kingsbury showed his steely side Tuesday when asked about Horishima’s score.

“We’ll see at the end how it works,” he said matter-of-factly.

Viel, meanwhile, thought the Japanese skier looked nervous.

“I think he wanted to be first out of qualifying,” he added

Kingsbury’s pre-Olympic preparations were handled with care due to a groin injury sustained in training during the summer. But he won on home snow in Val St-Come, Que., in January to record his 100th FIS World Cup victory.

Viel beat Horishima in the dual moguls final at Val St-Come for his first World Cup win. Kingsbury did not take part in the dual moguls.

Viel was happy with his run Tuesday but also saw room for improvement. The 24-year-old, who just missed out on making the Beijing team four years ago, admitted to some nerves.

“Not during the training, not at the top of the course, but this morning a little bit in the bus coming here,” he said. “The energy was going down but once I got on my skis, it was good.”

Will Milano Cortina 2026 be Mikaël Kingsbury’s last Winter Olympic Games?

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Vaillancourt, another first-time Olympian, was the first man down the course so had to wait in the start gate while officials ensured everything was as it should be.

“I have more to offer but I’m pretty happy with what I did,” said the 26-year-old.

Kingsbury, competing with 18-month-old son Henrik in tow this time, says he just wants to just have fun on the hill in Italy.

“I’ve won the Olympics. I’ll be Olympic champion for the rest of my life,” he said before the games. “Right now I’ve just got to look at it like I have the opportunity to do it again.”

His trophy cabinet is already full. Kingsbury, the first male moguls skier to earn three Olympic medals, is a nine-time world champion and has won 29 Crystal Globes.

He gets two chances at the podium in Italy with dual moguls making its debut in the Olympic program. Dual moguls sees athletes compete head-to-head on parallel courses in a bracket-style format.

In moguls, competitors race down a steep, heavily mogulled course featuring two jumps. Each run is judged on three elements: technical turns (worth 60 per cent), aerial manoeuvres (20 per cent) and speed (20 per cent).

Kingsbury gave the Olympic course a thumbs-up, savouring its degree of difficulty. The course is 245 metres long with a 28-degree gradient.

“It’s fun because it’s not that easy. It’s not too straightforward. When it’s too straightforward, it brings all the field together,” he explained. “I feel when it’s tricky, if you’re on top of your [game], you can create gaps on other people.”

Added Viel: “The course is long, tough and good for a technical skier like me.”

Canada has 11 moguls medals to date at the Olympics – six gold and five silver.

Ruud wins freeski slopetyle gold

Norway’s Birk Ruud added an Olympic slopestyle skiing gold medal in Italy to the big air title he won four years ago in China, overcoming bad sightlines on a gray day to land one of the contest’s few flawless runs.

Ruud put down his best run on his first trip down the mountain Tuesday, after eight of the previous 11 skiers fell. He fell on his second run and his final trip was a victory lap where, fittingly, he spun off a rail and landed facedown.

A ski fell off but he bent down and snapped it back on, then closed with a huge flip off the last kicker to celebrate.

Defending champion Alex Hall also went only 1 for 3, with his lone success good enough for silver. New Zealand’s Luca Harrington took bronze.

Ruud has a chance to defend his big air title this week. He’s also a two-time slopestyle world champion with three X Games titles to his name.