Laffont and Kingsbury storm to dual moguls titles in Bakuriani
Feb 26, 2023·Freestyle
A hugely successful two-day showcase of the best of freestyle skiing took to the Kokhta moguls venue at the Bakuriani 2023 FIS Freestyle Ski, Snowboard and Freeski World Championships on Sunday, where the dual moguls event closed out an epic weekend in Georgia in a truly spectacular fashion. There Perrine Laffont (FRA) and Mikael Kingsbury (CAN) doubled up their moguls titles in Bakuriani by claiming the dual moguls gold medals in what was one of the greatest dual moguls showdown in recent history.
Once again on Sunday, Laffont was simply on fire all day long, confidently climbing her way up in the competition’s brackets and edging the likes of Rikka Voutilainen (FIN), Makayla Gerken Schofield (GBR) and Avital Carroll (AUT) on her way to the super final, where she faced off against Saturday’s single moguls runner-up Jaelin Kauf (USA).
There in the superfinal Laffont showed no sings of slowing down, and once again the 24-year-old stormed the challenging course in Bakuriani with skis tips pointed down, acing the course’s middle section and launching it from both airs with style.
And while Kauf gave it her all in an attempt to claim her first World Championships gold medal, she couldn’t quite match the big final performance from Laffont, and at the end of the day it was the French skier who came away victorious once again, snagging her second title this weekend and the fifth World Championships gold of her career.
It was a historic moment for freestyle skiing, as with Sunday’s win Laffont moved into sole possession of top spot on the FIS Freestyle all-time women’s World Championships rankings, moving ahead of moguls great Jennifer Heil (CAN) and Kari Traa (NOR) and firmly establishing herself as the Queen of Moguls.
Despite losing the big final matchup to Laffont, Kauf wrapped up the day with her second silver medal of the Bakuriani 2023 World Championships, making it four world championships top-3 spots for the US skier.
After claiming the best results in her competition career with the bronze medal in moguls competition on Saturday, Avital Carroll (AUT) backed up her top-3 finish from the previous day with another extraordinary performance, winning her small final matchup against Hannah Soar for her second bronze medal in Georgia.
Things were no less thrilling on the men’s side of the action, with plenty of tight clashes going down throughout the day. Also with the women, the men kept pushing their limits, which resulted in some spectacular crowd-pleasing matchups until the very last heat of the day.
At the end of a thrilling day in Bakuriani it was Mikael Kingsbury who completed a perfect weekend, backing up his gold medal in single moguls with his second title in Georgia, claiming also the title of World Champion in the duals.
Kingsbury was once again a man on a mission on Sunday, besting the likes of Dylan Marcellini (USA), Benjamin Cavet (FRA) and Pavel Kolmakov (KAZ) before facing the 2022 Olympic champion Walter Wallberg in the big final. There, the King of Moguls played a catch-up game, edging Wallberg 19 to 16 and claiming his the eighth World Championships title of his career and an incredible sixth straight gold medal, making him the first ever FIS back-to-back-to-back double World Champion.
With Kingsbury in top spot, Wallberg wrapped up the day in second place, claiming dual moguls silver and his second medal of the weekend. Wallberg’s silver is the first dual moguls medal for Sweden since 2001, while Wallberg’s phenomenal performance in Georgia also makes him the most decorated moguls Swedish athlete at the World Championships stage.
With Kingsbury in top spot, Wallberg wrapped up the day in second place, claiming dual moguls silver and his second medal of the weekend. Wallberg’s silver is the first dual moguls medal for Sweden since 2001, while Wallberg’s phenomenal performance in Georgia also makes him the most decorated moguls Swedish athlete at the World Championships stage.
Matt Graham rounded out the podium in third place, claiming bronze after winning his small final matchup against Pavel Kolmakov (KAZ), also for his second top-3 finish in Georgia. Consequently Graham became just the second Australian to ever win two medals at FIS World Championships after Dale Begg-Smith's gold and silver in Madonna di Campiglio back in 2007.
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