DAY #1 SPORTS FOCUS: Sweden’s Wallberg stuns Kingsbury in men’s moguls final, but Canadian still the GOAT

He is simply the best – a six-time world champion, 71-time World Cup victor and now owner of a third consecutive Olympic moguls medal, but Canadian freestyle skiing icon Mikaël Kingsbury took a backseat to Sweden’s Walter Wallberg on Saturday night, under the lights in China.

The Canadian ‘King of Moguls’, who entered the final as the number one qualifier, maintaining that position after run one of three, was ultimately dethroned by the “Swedish Viking” Wallberg. Kingsbury’s 82.18 score was slightly shy of Wallberg’s 83.23 gold-medal winning tally.

“I’m very proud,” Kingsbury told CBC Sports. “This is my third Olympic medal in three Olympic Games. Our sport is only focused on performance on-demand … so I’m proud of the way I dealt with the pressure. We train four years for a one-day [final].

“I was able to put down my best run in super final and tried to put the pressure on Walter, but he answered very well. [I’m] proud of him.”

Previously, Wallberg has never won in 40 career World Cup starts, however he does own six second-place finishes, and now an Olympic gold medal.

Japan’s Ikuma Horishima, who has been Kingsbury’s toughest rival during the season, won the bronze medal with 81.48 points.

Kingsbury’s quick, tight turns, stable upper body and perfect positioning resulted in the highest score for turns in the six-men ‘Super Final,’ however Wallberg’s two spectacular aerials, especially a scintillating twisting and turning bottom air maneuver, was ultimately the difference in his gold medal run.

The Beijing 2022 competition marks the 30th anniversary of Olympic moguls, freestyle skiing’s longest tenured event. Despite some disappointment, Kingsbury became the first male moguls skier to win medals at three consecutive Olympic Games – silver in Sochi 2014, gold in PyeongChang 2018, and now silver in Beijing. Norwegian Kari Traa has done so on the women’s side.

Astoundingly, Kingbury’s 71 career World Cup victories have come in 120 starts, a mind-boggling 59% winning percentage. But those numbers made no difference on the Olympic moguls hill, on a frigid Saturday evening in China. Kingsbury was attempting to match his former teammate and fellow Canadian, Alexandre Bilodeau, as the only mogul skiers to win consecutive Olympic gold medals. Bilodeau won gold in Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014, so a Kingsbury triumph could have lengthened it four-in-a-row for Canada.

But Wallberg wasn’t counting.

Still, there is little argument that the five-foot, nine-inch, 29-year-old Kingsbury, from the province of Quebec, is the greatest mogul skier ever and arguably the best freestyle skier of all-time.

Former U.S. moguls skier, 1994 Olympian and television analyst Sean Smith explains why Kingsbury is the all-time best on steep, difficult, knee-jarring, mogul hills.

“Kingsbury is consistently great – he’s always had the best air packages and as the sport has evolved he pushes it one step further with his airs,” Smith tells Around the Rings. “He’s always ahead of the game in that category and I believe coming from Quebec he has the advantage on firm, icy moguls and that’s what the Beijing courses and many World Cup courses are like with man-made snow.

Physically, he has a great build for a mogul skier, 5ft. 9in, 165 pounds-ish, and he is very strong. His body position is perfect with a quiet, upper body, hands strong and all the action is from the waist down.

“He deflects off the moguls very well so that keeps his speed fast,” Smith says, about the third scored criteria.

Smith notes that Kingsbury calculates and adjusts, at the right time, to elevate his game.

“He will do a Cork 1080, but if Hiroshima does a Cork 14, then Kingsbury might match that. If another athletes skis very fast, Kingsbury will know he has to pick up his speed a bit and he does that.”

The 1994 Olympic bumps skier says Kingsbury is also mentally tough.

“His mental game is strong as he has the utmost confidence, but he is still very humble and laid-back. He doesn’t get overly excited or rattled, he just knows his best run can’t be beat,” Smith said.

Kingsbury undoubtedly laid down a series of top-notch, consistent runs, but in the end he was defeated.

At least for a little while, the freestyle skiing world spotlight belongs to a most-deserving Walter Wallberg, a new name to many, who delivered with Swedish style when it mattered the most on the sport’s grandest stage.

But, you can bet your Canadian Loonies that this uncharacteristic, slight bobble by Kingsbury, with all credit in the world to Wallberg, will only motivate and push him to become an even greater mogul skier, the best of all-time.

Norway’s double golden day

Besides the Wallberg upset of Kingsbury, the other big story on Day One of competition in Beijing, was the success of the Norwegian Nordic skiers and biathletes

Therese Johaug sauntered to the first gold medal of the Games, in 44 minutes 13.7 seconds in the women’s 15k skiathlon. Norway also outdistanced France to win mixed biathlon team relay gold.

Norway leads the early gold medal count with two gold and is tied with Slovenia in total medals at two.

In an interesting hockey clash, the defending gold medalist U.S. women’s team team shut out rivals from the Russian Olympic Committee, 4-0. It was their second win of the competition; Alex Carpenter, Savannah Harmon, Hilary Knight, Grace Zumwinkle and Jesse Compher all scored for the USA.

Meanwhile, U.S. rival Canada crushed Finland 11-1. Since 1998, The U.S. and Canada are the only two teams to play in a women’s hockey gold medal game.

Follow Brian Pinelli at @Brian_Pinelli