Canada's Mikaël Kingsbury competes in the men's moguls qualification in Livigno, Italy on Tuesday.Sean Kilpatrick/The Canadian Press
Two Canadians hit the upper ranks of the men’s moguls Olympic qualifying rounds midday Tuesday, two days ahead of the medal event, in Livigno.
In round one, Quebec’s Mikaël Kingsbury, 33, placed third. No surprise there, since he is the sport’s greatest athlete, with 100 World Cup victories and three Olympic medals collected in the 2014, 2018, 2022 Games, one of them gold.
If there was any surprise, it was Julien Viel, 24, who placed second, just ahead of Kingsbury in the points tally. Japanese moguls star Ikuma Horishima, 28, placed first.
In the second round, the results were exactly the same, setting up a podium battle among Kingsbury, Viel and Horishima.
Another Canadian, Elliot Vaillancourt, 26, of Quebec, placed 16th in the second qualifying round.
The two final rounds start Thursday at 6:15 a.m. ET.
Canada's Julien Viel competes in the freestyle skiing men's moguls qualification.KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/Getty Images
The world’s eyes will be on Kingsbury that day. Milan Cortina will be his last Olympics and he would like to go out with a bang even though he told The Globe and Mail, “I just want to ski and have fun.”
His entire family will be in Livigno to watch him perform. He hits the bumps again on Feb. 16 in the dual moguls competition, a race that naturally appeals to his killer competitive instincts.
“The duals are so exciting. I feel I become a different human being when I am in the starting gate of the duals. I love that you are racing against someone,” he said just ahead of the Olympics.
Horishima is the man he is worried about and there is no doubt the Japanese contender is dangerous. He won bronze in moguls in Beijing in 2022 and has a string of World Cup victories on his CV.
Moguls skier Mikaël Kingsbury heads to his last Olympics
“I know he can go crazy and he’s capable of doing the 1440,” Kingsbury said, referring to the four aerial rotations trick. “If we do our best stuff, it could go either way. I respect him a lot and I know he respects me a lot, too. We have been pushing this sport to another level for a couple of years. He makes me go out of my comfort zone.”
In other Olympic news on Tuesday, Birk Ruud of Norway won the men’s freestyle competition in a narrow victory over Alex Hall of the U.S., who landed silver. Luca Harrington of New Zealand took bronze.
Ruud was one of the top contenders going into the competition. He won gold in the big air competition in Beijing four years ago and has nailed several slopestyle World Championships.
This event was held on the same course in Livigno that handed Canada’s Megan Oldham of Parry Sound, Ont., a bronze in the women’s slopestyle on Monday.
No Canadians qualified for the men’s slopestyle medal round.
Ruud’s victory consolidates Norway’s top ranking in the medal table, with five golds, one silver and three bronzes so far. Switzerland and Italy are second and third in the medal count. Canada is ranked 12th, with two bronzes and one silver.
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