Moguls, Men

The competitor to beat in the men’s moguls was Canadian Mikaël Kingsbury, who had taken silver in this event in 2014 and gold in 2018. He was also a six-time World Champion, including at the last edition in 2021. The 2018 Olympic runner-up, Matt Graham of Australia, was also in contention, while bronze medalist Daichi Hara of Japan was competing as well. The most recent world runner-up was France’s Ben Cavet, with Pasha Kolmakov of Kazakhstan having rounded out that podium.

Kingsbury and Cavet came up first and third in the first qualifying round, with Sweden’s Walter Wallberg, who had been 21st in 2018, was second. Wallberg was a surprise qualifier, as he had never won a World Cup event and had nearly quit the sport following a series of injuries a few years earlier. It was therefore all the more surprising when Wallberg came out on top after the third round of the final with a score of 83.23 compared to Kingsbury’s 82.18. Cavet, meanwhile, just missed the podium in fourth, with Japan’s Ikuma Horishima, the 2017 World Champion who had been 11th in 2018, taking bronze. Wallberg’s victory, a first ever in the sport for Sweden, dethroned Canada as the champions in this event, as they had not lost gold since 2006.