Horishima ends Kingsbury’s winning streak, emotional sixth World Championships gold for Laffont
Mar 19, 2025·Freestyle
Ikuma Horishima (JPN) finally put an end to Mikael Kingsbury’s (CAN) undefeated World Championships run on Wednesday. The Japanese athlete claimed the single moguls title at the 2025 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle, and Freeski World Championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland. Perrine Laffont (CAN) finished the season with an emotional win in the women’s event.
2018 Olympic champion Laffont (FRA) crowned her comeback season in the best possible way, winning her sixth World moguls title. With a final score of 77.92, she beat Japan’s Hinako Tomitaka (75.15) and Canada’s Maia Schwinghammer (74.92).
Laffont, who took a break from competition between March 2023 and November 2024, was the runner-up in the 2024/25 World Cup standings but saved the best for last.
Being the last one up in the super final, the 26-year-old held her nerve just moments after seeing top-qualifier and three-time World Cup winner Jaelin Kauf (USA) crashing out on her first jump.
Laffont, who qualified for the super final in second, put in a clean run to claim victory and become a six-time world champion. She now has three World single moguls titles (2021, 2023 and 2025) and three in double moguls (2017, 2019, 2023).
“It’s a dream”, Laffont said afterward, while wiping away the tears. “Did I just win? It’s hard to believe. I didn’t think it could happen. It’s crazy.”
Hinako Tomitaka (JPN) and Maia Schwinghammer (CAN) both claimed their career-first World Championships medals with silver and bronze, respectively.
Horishima ends Kingsbury’s winning streak
Ikuma Horishima (JPN) put an end to Mikael Kingsbury’s (CAN) World championships winning streak, claiming gold in the men’s event. Eight years after his first World Championships title, Horishima is golden again.
With a score of 89.03, he finished well ahead of Kingsbury (82.86) who saw his chances of a ‘quadruple-double’ vanish. Daeyoon Jung (KOR) landed in third with 81.76.
Horishima topped the standings after the first round and held onto that position with a strong, powerful and difficult second run, including a Cork 1440.
“I’m very happy with the gold”, Horishima said afterward. “Eight years ago, I got my first World Championships gold”, he recalled the double (single and doubles gold) he claimed in 2017.
“Since then, Mikael Kingsbury continued to win. This time I tried to get to the highest level as possible and I’m happy to win the gold," the Japanese athlete added.
Up next..
Moguls competition in St. Moritz continues on Friday, 21 March, with the Dual Moguls event for Men and Women starting at 14.30 local time.
TV broadcasts will be available for fans to follow the action live, while there will also be live streaming on FIS TV and FIS Freestyle Youtube channel (LINK)
Please note that due to broadcasting rights restrictions, live streaming availability may be limited in certain regions including Europe, USA, China, Canada, Latin America, Japan.
QUICK LINKS
Engadin 2025 FIS data page (start lists, results, etc)
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