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The Milano Cortina Winter Games saw a defining moment in freestyle skiing when Mikaël Kingsbury delivered a powerful performance to win the inaugural Olympic men’s dual moguls competition. The victory marked the first gold for Canada at these Games and added a historic fifth Olympic medal to Kingsbury’s résumé, underscoring his status as the most decorated male freestyle skier in Olympic history.
Beyond the results, the podium carried an emotional tone: Kingsbury celebrated with his partner and their son, illustrating how elite sport and family life have intertwined for the 33‑year‑old from Deux‑Montagnes, Quebec. That human element became a prominent storyline alongside the technical drama of the competition.
The final and what it meant
In the big final, Kingsbury faced Japan’s Ikuma Horishima, a familiar rival whose career has been linked to Kingsbury’s through many major events. Kingsbury managed the course with a blend of clean turns and controlled aerials, while Horishima pushed a high-speed approach that left him slightly off balance on his closing jump. The result was Kingsbury’s gold, Horishima’s silver, and Australia’s Matt Graham taking bronze.
This gold extended Kingsbury’s legacy: he now holds five Olympic medals in the same freestyle discipline—two golds and three silvers—making him the winningest male athlete in Olympic freestyle skiing. The triumph also provided Canada with its first top‑step finish of the Games, adding to the country’s growing medal total across events.
A season of setbacks and a dramatic redemption
Earlier in the Games, Kingsbury experienced a heartbreaking near miss when he lost the traditional moguls gold on an obscure tiebreaker to Australia’s Cooper Woods. In that contest, both athletes recorded identical totals, but Woods edged the win due to a higher turns score. Rather than define the Games by that single setback, Kingsbury returned to win the dual moguls, a separate format where two skiers race side‑by‑side in knockout rounds.
The nature of dual moguls
The dual moguls format pits athletes head‑to‑head on parallel lines, with judges scoring runs for speed, turns and aerials. Because competitors ski at the same time, the event introduces direct tactical pressure: mistakes are amplified and margins shrink. Kingsbury’s experience—he has multiple world dual titles—proved decisive in navigating the bracketed rounds and ultimately claiming gold.
Rivalries and respect
Kingsbury and Horishima have traded podiums for years, creating a sports narrative that blends fierce competition with mutual respect. Their post‑race exchanges and shared family moments on the podium highlighted the camaraderie that often exists among top freestyle athletes.
Canadian highlights beyond moguls
While Kingsbury’s win dominated headlines, several other Canadian stories unfolded at the venue and across the schedule. The men’s hockey team, undefeated in preliminary play, closed its round against France, keeping medal hopes alive. In snowboard cross, Canada fielded a mixed‑team pairing featuring Éliot Grondin and Audrey McManiman, drawing on prior podium experience from recent Games.
Figure skating added another emotional subplot: veteran pair Deanna Stellato‑Dudek and Maxime Deschamps returned to the Olympic ice in the short program, while speed skater Béatrice Lamarche and snowboarders including Mark McMorris and Laurie Blouin were all vying to translate training comebacks into competitive success. On the ski jumping hill, Abigail Strate competed in the women’s large hill as that discipline made its Olympic debut.
Broadcast and how to follow
Fans could watch the Milano Cortina coverage via the national broadcaster’s streaming service, which provided live feeds and event replays for many competitions. For followers tracking Canada’s progress, the streaming platform offered free access to live action and highlights, helping viewers stay connected to every podium moment.
What this win signals going forward
Kingsbury’s dual moguls gold is more than another medal; it is a statement about resilience and longevity at the highest level. After injury setbacks and a dramatic tiebreak loss earlier in the same Games, the Canadian veteran rebounded under pressure to claim top honors. His performance reinforces the idea that technical mastery, competitive intelligence and experience can combine to produce decisive results in high‑stakes, rapidly evolving formats like dual moguls.
As the Milano Cortina program continues, Canada will look to build on Kingsbury’s momentum across freestyle, snowboarding, skating and team sports, while the international field resets for the next marquee contests. For fans, the combination of elite skill and human stories—parents on podiums, comeback athletes and breakthrough contenders—keeps the Games compelling beyond medal counts.