Kawamura and Horishima sweep top spots for Japan in Idre
Dec 11, 2021·Freestyle
Straight from a thrilling start to the 2021/22 season in Ruka (FIN) last week, the FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup got right back to business on Saturday in Sweden, where Anri Kawamura and Ikuma Horishima claimed big wins for Japan in first of back-to-back competitions scheduled for this weekend in Idre Fjäll (SWE).
True winter conditions and an exciting course made for a perfect backdrop for what turned out to be a thrilling showcase of the world’s best mogul skiing. And with some big names struggling throughout the day due to challenging conditions and some newcomers stepping things up on the other hand, the Saturday’s competition in Idre didn’t disappoint and kicked off another interesting World Cup weekend on a high note.
In the women’s event Anri Kawamura was on fire, leading the way from start to finish, impressing especially with her turn scores. 17-year-old Kawamura topped the field in each of the competition’s phases from qualifications to super final, where she finished with a score of 85.99 points, thus earning her very first World Cup victory in the process.
“It feels just amazing,” said Kawamura in the flash interview following her win,”I’m really happy to be here and this first place today means a lot to me.”
econd place on the day went to the reining World Cup champion Perrine Laffont of France, who stepped things up on Saturday for her first spot on the podium in 2021/22 after the French rider finished in fourth place in Ruka last week.
Jakarta Anthony (AUS) rounded out the women’s podium in third place for her second top-3 finish in two competitions this season. With two solid results so far in the campaign Anthony moved atop the World Cup moguls standing, leading the way with 140 points.
Perrine Laffont now jumped into second place in the standing with 130 points, with Anri Kawamura moving into third place with 129 points.
Things were pretty exciting over in the men’s competition too, with the biggest surprise coming probably from the living legend of moguls Mikael Kingsbury, who had some problems with landings after his top air in the first round of finals. Unexpectedly Kingsbury missed the top-6 cut and finished the competition in eight place.
Making the most out of the arising opportunity was Ikuma Horishima who completed a perfect day for the Japanese moguls team and similarly to her teammate Kawamura, also Horishima led the field through qualifications right into the super final and took the top spot in an impressive fashion.
Horishima set the high score of the day with his 88.49 points run taking the win as well as the lead in the World Cup ranking.
“Before dropping in I saw Sugimoto, Cavet and Holmgren all scoring pretty high for their runs, but I tried to focus on my skiing and just do my best,” said Horishima, “Well it all paid off in the end so I’m very happy about my first place today.”
Local fans’ favourite Albin Holmgren (SWE) finished the competition in second place, for his first World Cup top-3 finish, while Benjamin Cavet rounded out the men’s podium in third place.
In the World Cup ranking Horishima is now leading the way with 160 points. After missing the big final on Saturday, Kingsbury dropped down to second place with 132 points, while Pavel Kolmakov is closing out top-3 with 125 points.
The FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup action in Idre continues tomorrow with dual moguls competitions. Men’s qualifications are scheduled for 9:45 CET with finals coming up in the afternoon at 13:00 CET.
WATCH LIVE
Sunday
Eurosport player (Asia), Eurosport 2 (Europe), CBC Streaming (Canada), CT Sport Streaming (Czech Republic), Viaplay (Denmark), V Sport Jaakiekko and YLE Arena (Finland), L’Equipe (France), Arena 4 (Hungary),JSport 2 (Japan), ESPN Star+ (Latin America), V Sport 3 (Norway) TV10 (Sweden), Streaming on https://skiandsnowboard.live/ (USA), FIS Freestyle Youtube channel
QUICK LINKS:
Idre World Cup FIS data page (start lists, results, etc.)
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