Johnson takes first World Cup win in seven years after weather halts Almaty contest

Feb 28, 2025·Freestyle

Sweet success for Tess Johnson of the United States, who made a return to the top of a World Cup podium for the first time since 2018.

Anticipation was thick in the air, but the opening day of competition in Almaty unfortunately could not pan out as many athletes hoped.

Inclement weather, thick fog and poor visibility meant competition had to be called off mid-way. Results for the Moguls competition were based on the skiing that did manage to get under way – the first round of finals for the women’s, and qualification runs for the men.

This gave Tess Johnson (USA) her first World Cup win since 2018, after the 24-year-old carried her top form in qualifications into the first round of finals.

Her 77.68-effort put her just ahead of teammate Jaelin Kauf (USA), who scored 77.66.

Rino Yanagimoto (JPN) also did well with 74.40 points to earn her first Moguls podium of the season. She had picked up a second place in Dual Moguls at the Bakuriani World Cup in December.

It is another stellar result for Johnson, who picked up her first podium finish of the season just a week ago in Beidahu.

She said before her finals run on Shymbulak Mountain Resort’s Yuka G course: “I was pretty excited to get my first podium of the season last week, and I’m just hoping to build on that and put in some good runs.

“The outcome is always at the back of our minds as competitors, but I’m just putting my mind on my skiing and focusing on what I can control.”

Canada's Mikael Kingsbury (center, in yellow bib) now has 97 World Cup wins on his impressive CV.

Kingsbury takes 97th career World Cup win

On the men’s side, results were based on qualification runs, since finals runs could not be completed.

This meant Mikael Kingsbury (CAN) picked up another victory – his 97th overall World Cup win – courtesy of his top score of 81.17 points in the qualifying round.

For Jung Daeyoon (KOR), taking second place with 79.08 points was historic as South Korea’s first-ever podium in Moguls World Cup.

Ikuma Horishima (JPN) completed the podium with 77.82 points.

Competition resumes on Saturday with Dual Moguls. The preliminary rounds start at 11:45, before finals take place from 14:00.

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