Kawamura and Horishima sweep DM top spots for Japan in Alpe d’Huez
Dec 17, 2022·Freestyle
A hugely successful three-day showcase of the best of freestyle skiing wrapped up on Saturday in Alpe d’Huez, where dual moguls competition closed out an epic weekend of moguls action in France in a truly spectacular fashion. There, Anri Kawamura and Ikuma Horishima claimed big wins as well as dual moguls World Cup leaders yellow bibs for Japan.
After missing Friday’s single moguls finals, Anri Kawamura bounced back in style on Saturday, confidently climbing her way up in the competition’s brackets and edging out the likes of Kasey Hogg (USA), Makayla Gerken Schofield (GBR) and Jakara Anthony (AUS) on her way to the big final, where she faced Saturday’s runner-up Perrine Laffont (FRA).
Once there, Kawamura showed no sings of slowing down and once again the 18-year-old raced down the challenging course in Alpe d’Huez, while keeping her skis’ tips pointed down, acing the middle section and launching it from both airs with style.
And while Laffont tried to showcase her best skiing in front of the home fans, her clean middle section wasn’t quite enough to match the speed, and the jumps from Kawamura, and at the end of the day it was the Japanese riders who came away victorious and snagged her first victory of the season.
With Kawamura in top spot, Laffont finished the competition in second place, which was her fifth top-3 finish in five competitions so far in the 2022/23 World Cup campaign.
Saturday’s winner Jakara Anthony rounded out the women’s podium in third place after edging out Avital Carroll (AUT) in the small final matchup.
Despite missing out on the podium finish this weekend, Carroll recorded her career’s best results in Alpe d’Huez with a fifth place in single moguls and fourth spot in duals. It was also the best result for the Austrian Moguls Team since Margarita Marbler’s second place in Sierra Nevada back in 2010.
With the victory on Saturday, Kawamura also took the lead in the dual moguls standing, while Anthony maintained her overall moguls World Cup top spot with seven more competitions to go in the 2022/23 season.
Things were quite interesting also on the men’s side with plenty of tight and interesting clashes going down throughout the day. Also here, guys just kept on pushing their limits, which resulted in some spectacular crashes that fortunately didn’t cause any serious injuries.
One of the victim of the challenging course in Alpe d’ Huez was Mikael Kingsbury, who surprisingly crashed in his preliminary matchup against William Feneley (GBR) and for the first time since 2010 he didn’t qualify into finals.
WIth Kingsbury out of competition, it was Ikuma Horishima, who yet once again was the man on a mission, besting the likes of Yurato Murata (JPN), Severi Vierela (FIN) and Pavel Kolmakov (KAZ), before he matched up against Benjamin Cavet (FRA) in the big final.
There, Horishima remained calm, cool and in control keeping his turns tidy, his speed up and his wits about him to grab another huge win, his second of the weekend in Alpe d’Huez. In four starts in Alpe d’Huez over last two season, Horishima recorded three wins and one third place finish, making him the most successful athlete so far on this venue.
Benjamin Cavet finished the day in second place, for his first top-3 finish of the season, and also his first one since Idre 2021.
Walter Wallberg (SWE) rounded out the men’s podium in third place after winning the small final matchup against Pavel Kolmakov (KAZ). It was also the second top-3 finish for Wallberg so far in the season.
With the win on Saturday Horishima took over the lead in the dual moguls World Cup ranking, while Kingsbury, despite his unexpected 28th place in Alpe d’Huez, maintained his overall moguls World Cup top spot, but now with only three points advantage over Horishima.
The FIS Freestyle Ski Moguls World Cup will now head into a holiday break, with the next event scheduled to take place in Val St. Come (CAN) on January 27-28, 2023.
QUICK LINKS:
Alpe d'Huez World Cup FIS data page (start lists, results, etc.)
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