Mikaël Kingsbury is no stranger to podiums, collecting his 113th medal since making his freestyle World Cup debut on Saturday in the Italian town of Chiesa in Valmalenco.

But just a few metres away from him was a compatriot who experienced the sensation for the first time in his young career, in his 11th race on the circuit.

Short of a 79th victory in his illustrious career, Kingsbury finished second in the dual moguls event, behind his great Japanese rival Ikuma Horishima.

"I'm really happy with my day, even though it was a track that gave me a lot of trouble since the first day of training," said Kingsbury, in an audio recording that was released to the media. "I had a good workout this morning, it gave me a little more confidence, but my goal was just to get to the bottom of every duel. I knew I had the speed on my side, I had the degree of difficulty on the jumps, but it wasn't the kind of track that made my skiing shine. With a bit of a hard head as a competitor, I managed to make it to the end."

What wasn't necessarily expected, however, was 21-year-old Quebecer Julien Viel's third-place finish, beating American Dylan Walczyk 21-14 in the small final.

Viel's previous best World Cup performance was a ninth place finish in the moguls event held on Feb. 2 in Deer Valley, Utah.

Viel's bronze medal came just 24 hours after he was named to the Canadian delegation for the World Freestyle Skiing Championships, which will be held Feb. 19 to March 5 at the Bakuriani resort in Georgia.

"I want to give a big congratulations to Julien Viel for his third place," said Kingsbury. "I think we saw it coming. I knew he was on the edge, with all the training he's done this summer, his World Cups, his first finals, and good results. It's really cool to have a teammate with me on the podium. It's been a while already."

In fact, it was the first time since March 1, 2020 in Kazakhstan that two Canadians stood on the podium in a dual moguls event. On that occasion, Kingsbury finished in second place ahead of his compatriot Laurent Dumais.

Kingsbury and Dumais also stood on the same podium, in first and third place, respectively, in moguls at an event in Japan on Feb. 22, 2020.

ANOTHER CHRYSTAL GLOBE

In the grand final, Horishima won by a score of 18-17, but that didn't stop Kingsbury from securing the crystal globe in the cumulative rankings, which includes points earned in moguls and dual moguls.

With only two races on the calendar, on March 17 and 18 in Kazakhstan, Kingsbury has 802 points in the cumulative ranking, 224 more than Horishima.

With a maximum of 100 points for a win, Kingsbury, who is already assured of the crystal globe in moguls, cannot be caught.

In the overall dual moguls ranking, Kingsbury has 362 points, 68 more than Sweden's Walter Wallberg. If he finishes seventh in Kazakhstan on March 18, Kingsbury will complete the hat trick.

"What's good for me is that I'm a little bit ahead of Walter and Ikuma for the duel globe. So I feel like I'm in a good position to go and win another globe. I can focus, after the World Championships, on the duals and take the time at home during my two weeks to train for that," Kingsbury noted.

In the women's event, France's Perrine Laffont won the competition ahead of American Elizabeth Lemley.

Maia Schwinghammer was the top Canadian with a 12th place finish.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Feb. 11, 2023.