After falling short of Olympic gold, Mikaël Kingsbury looks to reassert dominance at World Cup Finals
Canadian can capture 10th, 11th Crystal Globes at season-ending competition
At this point, Mikaël Kingsbury's moguls dominance is well-established: any time the Canadian competes, he is expected to win.
It's a sensation CBC Sports analyst Mike Atkinson said reminds him of one athlete specifically.
"What Tiger is to golf, Mikaël is to mogul skiing," Atkinson said.
He has landed on the podium in 102 of 121 career World Cup starts, winning 72 of them.
"That's crazy. That's just crazy. There's been other people that have dominated and produced results, but not to the extent of Kingsbury. It is a league of his own," Atkinson said.
At the Beijing Games, Kingsbury became the first man to win three career Olympic moguls medals. But considering his dominance, the fact that it was his second silver to just one gold stings.
"I thought he did a really outstanding job of holding his head high while flushed with disappointment. I just thought, 'That's a true champ right there.' He lost. He got beat. That wasn't his day," Atkinson said.
WATCH | Kingsbury settles for silver in Beijing:
The Deux-Montagnes, Que., native should still end the season with plenty of hardware.
Kingsbury enters this weekend's World Cup Finals in France with a shot at the overall titles in moguls and dual moguls.
"He's in it to win it," Atkinson said. "He's had his time off [after] the Olympics. He's had his time to digest everything that's happened and he wants it. He wouldn't be there if he didn't."
Action from France begins with the moguls competition on Friday at 1 p.m. ET and continues on Saturday with dual moguls at 10:40 a.m. ET. All coverage is available on CBCSports.ca, CBC Gem and the CBC Sports app.
You can watch more moguls coverage by streaming Road to the Olympic Games on Sunday at 1 p.m. ET on CBCSports.ca. Check your local listings for TV broadcast times.
Rivalry with Horishima
The top-ranked Canadian has won all three dual moguls races this season to build a comfortable lead over Japanese rival and World No. 2 Ikuma Horishima. But the gap is much tighter in singles, where Kingsbury's claimed four World Cup wins to Horishima's three.
Neither Kingsbury nor Horishima stood atop the podium at the Olympics, where young Swede Walter Wallberg won a shocking gold medal. But that stands as Wallberg's lone victory of the season.
In a return to World Cup competition last week, Kingsbury beat Horishima in the dual moguls final after the latter crashed hard after the first jump.
"He hasn't looked himself since the Olympics. He looked tense. … For Horishima to crash on a huge top air like that, that's not normally in his wheelhouse," Atkinson said.
WATCH | Kingsbury tops Horishima in 1st action since Olympics:
Kingsbury, meanwhile, looks as strong as ever, according to Atkinson.
"I think he's going to want to ski fast again in France this weekend. But he certainly looks relieved and motivated. He's fired up. He wants these Crystal Globes."
Potential to further extend dominance
Atkinson said it was speed that propelled Wallberg past Kingsbury in China, but that the Canadian has specifically trained toward that element since the Olympics.
And with his jumps and amplitude only rivalled by Horishima, it doesn't appear Kingsbury will slow down any time soon.
"I would almost say that silver medal this year just adds to the momentum. If he would have won the gold and then he wins the Crystal Globe this year, I think you and I are having a different conversation," Atkinson said.
Atkinson said there's no reason to believe Kingsbury won't again be a favourite entering the 2026 Olympics in Italy, given how far ahead of the field he is right now.
By then, dual moguls might even become part of the Olympic program — though Aktinson said that's been the hope for the past three Games.
"My fingers are crossed. I'm optimistic and I'm also a little bit on the reality side where if [the international ski federation] don't want it to happen, they're going to come up with some excuse on why it shouldn't," he said.
New ski events, slopestyle and big air, were added at each of the past two Olympics. Should a second set of moguls medals become available, it'd provide even more reason for Kingsbury, who will still be just 33 in Italy, to keep training at the highest level.
For now, his sights are set on his 10th and 11th Crystal Globes.