Laffont & Kingsbury Make History With Moguls Titles In Bakuriani
It was a picture-perfect day on the Kokhta moguls course at the Bakuriani 2023 FIS Freestyle, Snowboard and Freeski World Championships, where France’s Perrine Laffont and Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury opened the moguls weekend in Georgia with show-stopping performances to claim the moguls World Championships titles.
With plenty of spectacular runs already going down in qualifications earlier in the morning and so many of the athletes on hand showcasing their best skiing on the biggest stage of the season, the finals were shaping up to be hugely entertaining.
As it turned out, the moguls competition in Bakuriani did not disappoint, with optimal snow conditions and an exciting course making for a perfect backdrop of what turned out to be one of the most exciting showcase of mogul skiing we’ve seen in recent history.
In the women’s competition Laffont was on fire all day long, leading the way from qualifications, through the first round of finals, and then into the superfinal, where the 24-year-old laid down an electric run. Boosting it on the jumps and skiing flawlessly through the bumps, Laffont was able to grab a high-score of 87.40 points while leaving no doubt on who was the best female athlete on the day.
With the win on Saturday, Laffont added a fourth World Championships title to her name, placing her atop the all-time women’s World Championships leaderboard along with freestyle skiing icons Jennifer Heil (CAN) and Kari Traa (NOR).
Second place on the day went to Jaelin Kauf (USA), who finished the competition with 83.56 points and her third World Championships medal. The silver medallist from the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing came with through with a storming run to set the fastest time in the women’s super-final. However, with significantly less difficult tricks and some slight bobbles through the middle section, Kauai’s performance wasn’t quite enough to upset Laffont on the day as she had to settle for the second place.
Jaelin Kauf earned her first singles moguls World Championship medal in Bakuriani, Georgia, on Saturday claiming silver. This is her third World Championships medal in the four she’s competed at. Kauf continued her season’s speed streak, skiing the fastest run of the women’s super final round and earning a score of 83.56.
“I’m really stoked,” she said in the finish area. “I was really toying around with the idea of that last one to do cork on the bottom air and really go for that top spot. But I’ve never had a World Champs medal before in singles. I just focused on skiing my same run, putting it down, skiing it fast and nailing those turns.”
Kauf is having a time of a season skiing fast and confidently, and making it look effortless on the bump track.
“I am really focused on my strengths and that’s skiing the speed and executing the jumps that I have to a really high level. I feel like I’m really pushing the sport and it’s really fun, pushing the speed, seeing if I can max it out every event.”
Avital Carroll (AUT) rounded out the women’s podium in third place, winning the bronze medal and scoring her first international top-3 finish at the biggest competition of the season. With just 18 World Cup appearances to her name and dropping in on her very first World Championships start, Carrol put down a clutch performance when it mattered most to score the biggest result of her career. Her bronze medal on Saturday was also the first moguls medal for Austria since 2007 bronze from Margarita Marbler in Madonna di Campiglio.
Moving over to the men’s side of things it was all about the “King of Moguls” Mikael Kingsbury who, similarly to Laffont, led the day from start to finish, showing his trademark, clinical style in the turns and jumps alike with no shortage of speed. Needing a near-flawless run at today’s Bakuriani 2023 World Champs to top Matt Graham’s (AUS) 88.90 points, Mike put down one of his finest, blazing his way to a score of 89.92 and the seventh gold medal of his World Championships career.
And if you consider that no other men in FIS Freestyle Skiing history has ever won more than three World Championships medals in their career, Kingsbury’s dominance becomes all the more incredible. Furthermore, his seventh World Championships medal ties him in third place in all-time on the FIS World Championships leaderboard across all disciplines, joining the likes of FIS Alpine greats Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) or Anja Paerson (SWE).
With Kingsbury in first, Matt Graham finished the competition in second place, winning his third runner-up spot at the World Championships stage.
Third place and the bronze medal went to Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games gold medallist, Walter Wallberg (SWE), who finished the event with a final score of 88.90 points. While Wallberg was nearly on par with Kingsbury in his turning and time scores, his less-difficult air package was him fall just short of a higher spot on the podium. Nonetheless, the 22-year-old would walk away with the first World Championships medal of his career, further strengthening his case as the next moguls great should his trajectory continue.
