By Lisa Richwine and Alvise Armellini
LIVIGNO, Italy, Feb 15 (Reuters) – Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury, widely considered one of the best moguls skiers of all time, ended a decorated Winter Olympics career on Sunday with a fast-paced final run that earned him a gold in the Italian Alps.
Kingsbury won the new Olympic event of dual moguls, three days after he had to settle for silver in the single moguls, in what he said was his last Games appearance.
He beat Ikuma Horishima of Japan, who started strong in the final head-to-head race but lost control and had to bail on the required second jump. Australia’s Matt Graham took bronze on a sunny day in the mountain town of Livigno.
The gold was Canada’s first of the Milano Cortina Games.
Kingsbury, at 33 the oldest man racing in dual moguls, has claimed a medal in each of the four Olympics he entered.
His first win was a silver in Sochi in 2014, followed by gold at Pyeongchang 2018 and silver at Beijing 2022.
“I really wanted this one and I knew it was my last Olympic performance,” Kingsbury said on Sunday. “I gave everything. I had no regrets.”
The Canadian said he dreamed of becoming an Olympic champion when he was eight years old. He said he printed the Olympic rings on a piece of paper and wrote “I will win.
“I always believed I could do it,” he said. “I trusted myself.”
On Sunday, Kingsbury held both skis high in the air as he was proclaimed the winner. He closed his eyes and sang along to the national anthem as he stood on the podium. Fans in the crowd waved red-and-white Canadian maple leaf flags.
Kingsbury later held his 18-month-old son, Henrik, who wore a red knit cap with the words “Go Mik.”
ICY MOGULS COURSE
Horishima, 28, said the moguls course was icy and it threw off his rhythm.
“My confidence level was low,” said Horishima, who won bronze in the single-format moguls. “I felt very sorry to everyone who was here cheering me,” he added. “Also disappointed for me as well. It was 100% disappointment.”
Australia’s Cooper Woods, who edged Kingsbury to earn gold in the men’s singles, was eliminated in the dual moguls’ second elimination round after missing a jump.
Woods, 25, said he had mixed emotions after his prior win.
“I wanted to come out here and perform to my best, and I didn’t do that, which is really upsetting,” Woods said of his dual moguls appearance.
On Saturday, Australian Jakara Anthony won gold in the women’s dual moguls.
Dual moguls is a new event at the Olympics, pitting skiers together in a head-to-head elimination format in which two competitors race side-by-side through parallel bump fields. Speed counts, but so do turns and aerial manoeuvres.
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Andrew Cawthorne and Ken Ferris)
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