Mikaël Kingsbury falls just shy of Crystal Globe despite victory in World Cup finale

Mikaël Kingsbury did everything he could to obtain his 25th career moguls Crystal Globe, but the Canadian landed just short.

Kingsbury won the moguls World Cup season finale on Friday in Almaty, Kazakhstan — but Ikuma Horishima's second-place finish was enough for the Japanese contender to clinch the season-long title.

The Canadian posted a final-run score of 84.89 points to win gold in Kazakhstan, clipping Horishima's mark of 83.48. Australia's Matt Graham rounded out the podium with bronze at 80.81.

The results left Kingsbury, of Deux-Montagnes, Que., with a season-ending total of 600 points — 10 agonizing points short of Horishima. Each victory is worth 100 points, while silver medals are 80 and bronze are 60, meaning the Canadian would have clinched the title if Horishima has finished any lower on Friday's leaderboard.

"I managed what I could manage, I controlled what I could control," Kingsbury said after what he described as a "great day."

"I knew it was going to be really tough. He was skiing to win, but he was also skiing not to make mistakes."

The moguls rivals will return to the hill on Saturday for the second-last dual moguls event of the season, where Kingsbury will have the chance to strengthen his grip on the Crystal Globe in both that non-Olympic discipline as well as the overall title.

"It's big day for me tomorrow [Saturday]," Kingsbury said. "I still have some real skiing to do."

He has 12 medals (eight gold, four bronze) in moguls and dual moguls on the World Cup circuit this season.

Kingsbury has long dominated moguls, to the point where the last time he failed to win a season-long title — outside of the COVID-marred 2021 season in which he competed just twice — was his sophomore season in 2011.

Fellow Canadian Julien Viel placed 11th on Friday with 69.18 points.

Australia's Jakara Anthony claimed gold in the women's single moguls event, while Maia Schwinghammer was the top Canadian after placing 13th.