SPORT / MISCELLANY
Athletes to watch at Beijing 2022: Mikael Kingsbury
Editor's Note:
The Beijing Winter Olympics are set to kick off on February 4. Global Times has picked some of the biggest names to keep an eye on.
"I will win the Olympics," wrote a 9-year-old Mikael Kingsbury under the Olympic rings on a homemade sign on his bedroom wall after watching the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City and the Canadian skier came good on his word in Pyeonchang four years ago.
His brother updated the sign to say "You did win," a picture of which their mother tweeted to the world.
Going into the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, Kingsbury remains the man to beat on the moguls on the slopes of Zhangjiakou. His gold in Pyeongchang followed silver at Sochi four years earlier and if anything he might be even better this time around.
The 29-year-old arrives in the Chinese capital on the back of a couple of career milestones in quick succession. First off came a 70th World Cup win, which was secured at Mont-Tremblant in his native Canada.
"It's good to get the nice 70th win on home soil, back to back," Kingsbury told local media after that feat earlier this month.
That was also his 99th career World Cup podium and he followed it up with a historic 100th when the competition moved to Utah's Deer Valley Resort.
"I'm really happy with my day. It's my fourth win in a row. The course here at Deer Valley is not easy. It's one of the toughest in the world, especially with the warm weather conditions today. The battle against Ikuma [Horishima of Japan] was a good one," Kingsbury said after winning gold at the event.
The gold was his sixth of this World Cup season, and another warning shot from the reigning Olympic champion to his competitors ahead of his third Winter Games.
The Quebec native holds the world record for World Cup wins and is a four-time world champion.
That is all the more impressive for a skier whose most recent world titles - in both the moguls and dual moguls at the 2021 event, just as he had done at the 2019 event - came just months after he had broken his back.
Kingsbury fractured both his T4 and T5 vertebrae in a training accident in Finland just three months prior to the World Championships and was forced to miss part of that 2020-21 season.
That put a stop to his utter dominance of the World Cup format, with Kingsbury having won nine straight overall titles from the 2011-12 season.
He already has the most Freestyle World Championship medals of any male competitor and a second Olympic mogul gold would only add to his legendary status within the sport.
Given the serious nature of the injury that he picked up in 2020 it would also mark one of the sport's greatest comebacks.
The Beijing Winter Olympics are set to kick off on February 4. Global Times has picked some of the biggest names to keep an eye on.
"I will win the Olympics," wrote a 9-year-old Mikael Kingsbury under the Olympic rings on a homemade sign on his bedroom wall after watching the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City and the Canadian skier came good on his word in Pyeonchang four years ago.
His brother updated the sign to say "You did win," a picture of which their mother tweeted to the world.
Going into the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, Kingsbury remains the man to beat on the moguls on the slopes of Zhangjiakou. His gold in Pyeongchang followed silver at Sochi four years earlier and if anything he might be even better this time around.
The 29-year-old arrives in the Chinese capital on the back of a couple of career milestones in quick succession. First off came a 70th World Cup win, which was secured at Mont-Tremblant in his native Canada.
"It's good to get the nice 70th win on home soil, back to back," Kingsbury told local media after that feat earlier this month.
That was also his 99th career World Cup podium and he followed it up with a historic 100th when the competition moved to Utah's Deer Valley Resort.
"I'm really happy with my day. It's my fourth win in a row. The course here at Deer Valley is not easy. It's one of the toughest in the world, especially with the warm weather conditions today. The battle against Ikuma [Horishima of Japan] was a good one," Kingsbury said after winning gold at the event.
Mikael Kingsbury takes a run for the men's mogul training on January 13, 2022 in Park City, Utah. Photo: AFP
The gold was his sixth of this World Cup season, and another warning shot from the reigning Olympic champion to his competitors ahead of his third Winter Games.
The Quebec native holds the world record for World Cup wins and is a four-time world champion.
That is all the more impressive for a skier whose most recent world titles - in both the moguls and dual moguls at the 2021 event, just as he had done at the 2019 event - came just months after he had broken his back.
Kingsbury fractured both his T4 and T5 vertebrae in a training accident in Finland just three months prior to the World Championships and was forced to miss part of that 2020-21 season.
That put a stop to his utter dominance of the World Cup format, with Kingsbury having won nine straight overall titles from the 2011-12 season.
He already has the most Freestyle World Championship medals of any male competitor and a second Olympic mogul gold would only add to his legendary status within the sport.
Given the serious nature of the injury that he picked up in 2020 it would also mark one of the sport's greatest comebacks.
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