Kauf and Kingsbury close out Idre’s weekend with wins in duals
Dec 09, 2023·Freestyle
The second and final day of the FIS Freestyle World Cup event in Idre Fjall, Sweden, concluded with Jaelin Kauf (USA) triumphantly returning to her winning form in the women's dual moguls, while Mikael Kingsbury (CAN) sustained his winning momentum from Friday’s single moguls event. This marked the opening dual moguls event of the 2023/24 season.
The day began with women’s and men’s preliminary rounds in the morning, setting the stage for the round of 16 dual showdowns. The athletes aimed to advance through two head-to-head battles to reach the big final.
In the women's competition, Jaelin Kauf, renowned for her speed and prowess in dual moguls, secured her first World Cup victory since 2020. Despite her consistent top-three finishes, Kauf hadn’t clinched a win since the 2019/20 season in Shymbulak, Kazakhstan. Her path to victory on Friday was marked by impressive wins against Anastassiya Gorodko (KAZ), teammate Olivia Giaccio (USA), and Jakara Anthony (AUS), where she forced a critical error from Anthony. The final round saw Kauf triumph over Rino Yanagimoto (JPN), signaling a strong comeback to the top of the podium.
Yanagimoto, although second to Kauf, ended the event on a high note, pairing her final position with a second-place finish in the singles from Friday. Jakara Anthony took home the bronze, narrowly defeating Hinako Tomitaka (JPN).
Post this event, Kauf leads the dual moguls standings, while Anthony remains at the forefront of the overall moguls classification with 260 points, followed closely by Yanagimoto with 200 points and Kauf with 190 points.
On the men's side, Mikael Kingsbury continued to dominate, building on his success from the previous day’s single moguls event. Kingsbury’s journey to victory included overcoming challenges from teammates Eliot Vaillancourt and Louise-David Chalifoux, and a significant win against Swedish favorite Walter Wallberg in the semi-finals, before securing the top spot against Rasmus Stegfeldt in the finals. This marked Kingsbury’s 82nd World Cup win, inching him closer to the legendary Ingemar Stenmark's record for most World Cup wins in men's competitions across all FIS disciplines.
Rasmus Stegfeldt (SWE) celebrated a career highlight with his first World Cup podium finish. Meanwhile, Ikuma Horishima (JPN) earned third place after an exciting match against Wallberg, who narrowly missed the podium, finishing fourth on both competition days.
With his back-to-back victories in Idre, Kingsbury now leads in all moguls categories - single, duals, and overall.
The FIS Freestyle World Cup now heads to the slopes of Alpe d’Huez, France, for another set of enthralling moguls and dual moguls events scheduled for December 15-16.
QUICK LINKS:
Idre Fjäll World Cup FIS data page (start lists, results, etc.)
