The moguls World Cup season set to kick off in Ruka

Aug 31, 2018·Freestyle

Moguls World Cup training in Ruka (FIN). Photo: Mateusz Kielpinski (FIS)

Ruka, FIN - We’re just days away from one of the most eagerly anticipated weekends on the FIS Freestyle Skiing World Cup calendar, with the first competition of the 2017/18 moguls World Cup season set to get underway on Saturday at Finland’s Ruka ski resort. Qualification and finals in Ruka goes down on Saturday, 9 Decemeber, beginning at 10:10 local time.

This will be the eighth consecutive season that the Freestyle Ski Opening Ruka competition has been the kickoff for the moguls World Cup season, and Finnish venue just south of the Arctic Circle has consistently delivered a top-notch venue and thrilling competition year after year.

Last season’s winner’s in Ruka are, not coincidentally, the skiers to watch as we head into the 2017/18 World Cup season and move towards the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games, as Britt Cox (AUS) and Mikael Kingsbury (CAN) both finished last season holding the respective moguls and Freestyle overall crystal globes when the dust settled.

Cox took the first win of her career in Ruka last December, before going on to claim six more victories and the single moguls gold medal at the Sierra Nevada 2017 FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboard World Championships in what was a remarkable breakout season. Having established herself as the top ladies’ moguls skier in the world, Cox will be looking to reassert that claim as quickly with her performance here in Ruka.

Just behind Cox at last season’s Ruka competition was 19-year-old Perrine Laffont (FRA), who would also finish up just behind Cox on the final moguls season rankings and would also claim a gold medal at Sierra Nevada 2017, hers in the dual moguls. Laffont’s smooth style and consistency saw her hit the top-10 in all but one competition in 2016/17, and with her impressive progression through each of her four seasons on the World Cup it’s nearly certain that she’ll be right in the thick of the battle for the season’s top accolades again in 2017/18.

However, just a little further down the list you’ll find names like the powerhouse Canadian sister duo of Justine and Chloe Dufour-Lapointe, past Ruka winners like Mikaela Matthews (USA) and Yulia Galysheva (KAZ), and a handful of others who could be in the mix for top spot on the ladies’ side come competition time on Saturday.

Kingsbury looks for record eighth-straight victory

The biggest story heading into Ruka comes from the men’s side of things, as the inimitable Mikael Kingsbury seeks to record a record-breaking eighth-straight victory, dating back to early February of last season. Kingsbury already owns the existing record of seven-straight wins, having set the mark twice in his career (including his current streak), and setting a new benchmark in Ruka would be another feather in the cap of one of the greatest freestyle skiers of all time.

It’s not going to be easy for Kingsbury, however, as the two skiers who finished on the podium with him last season in Ruka are the same two athletes who followed him up on the overall rankings, and who both seem to be homing in on Kingsbury’s level of proficiency a little more every year.

Those two skiers are Ben Cavet (FRA) and Matt Graham (AUS), second and third respectively on the 2016/17 moguls rankings and third and second, also respectively, at last season’s competition in Ruka. Both have exhibited the skills to stand toe-to-toe with Kingsbury at points over the past couple of World Cup seasons, and both will be hoping to make the leap to the level of ‘consistent threat’ in 2017/18.

One other athlete put himself very much in the conversation of as a potential overall threat to Kingsbury at the end of last season is Ikuma Horishima, as 19-year-old became the first men’s moguls skier to win double world championships gold in an incredible performance at Sierra Nevada 2017 in March. Horishima’s one career World Cup podium came at Ruka two seasons ago, and many eyes will be on the Japanese speedster to see if he can transfer his inspired world championships feat into some World Cup consistency this season.

**PROGRAM (local time)
**

10:10 - qualifications ladies

13:05 - qualifications men

16:30 - FINALS

QUICK LINKS

Competition program

Feb 10, 2024•75 kB

Competition program

Feb 10, 2024•75 kB

**LIVE TV BROADCAST (FINALS)
**

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Europe - livestream on Eurosport player