Kingsbury wins 4th straight world title in dual moguls, leads 3-medal day for Canada at freestyle ski worlds
Three Canadians reached the podium on Friday at the 2025 FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships in Engadin, Switzerland.
Mikaël Kingsbury took his fourth straight gold medal in men’s dual moguls, following Courtney Hoffos’ silver in women’s ski cross and Megan Oldham’s bronze in women’s ski slopestyle.
Kingsbury remains the king of dual moguls
It wasn’t the dramatic final showdown that many expected between Mikaël Kingsbury and his top rival from Japan, Ikuma Horishima. Kingsbury had an easy ride to victory in dual moguls after Horishima had injured himself in the semifinals and was unable to race at full speed.
When the start gate dropped, the two men respectfully raised their poles to each other before Kingsbury headed out for an easy run down the course for his ninth career world title. Kingsbury also had a relatively easy run in his semifinal when his opponent, Matt Graham of Australia, lost a ski going into one of the air jumps and was unable to finish.
Graham ended up getting the bronze medal because his small final opponent, Filip Gravenfors of Sweden, had also crashed out of his semifinal. Racing against Horishima, Gravenfors lost control of his turns and went off course, smashing into a gate marker at the finish. A moment later, Horishima did a punch-front off the landing of his bottom air and slid out of control across the finish line. Both men received medical attention.
Kingsbury is now a five-time world champion in dual moguls. Before winning the last four straight, he also won gold in 2015.
This follows the silver Kingsbury won in men’s moguls on Wednesday. Horishima took the gold medal in that event after finishing second to Kingsbury in the overall World Cup standings for moguls, dual moguls, and combined moguls this season.
The 32-year-old Canadian now has a remarkable total of 15 career world championship medals since making his debut in 2011.
Hoffos captures ski cross silver
In ski cross, Courtney Hoffos won her first career world championship medal, finishing second in the women’s big final. Despite Canada being a dominant force on the FIS World Cup circuit in recent years, Hoffos is Canada’s first world championship medallist in women’s or men’s ski cross since Marielle Thompson took gold in 2019.
In an exciting big final, Hoffos battled with some of the biggest stars in ski cross. While Fanny Smith of Switzerland jumped out to the lead, Hoffos battled with Germany’s Daniela Maier and France’s Marielle Berger Sabbatel all the way down the course. At the finish line, Hoffos just edged out Maier for second place behind Smith, with Berger Sabbatel coming in fourth. Smith, currently leading the Crystal Globe standings, earned her seventh straight world championship medal but it is her first world title since 2013.
“It feels amazing and I’m very proud to have this medal around my neck,” said a smiling Hoffos. “There’s a lot of tactics and passing on this course and today it worked well for me. We’re all a little tired at this time of year so to get a result like this in such a big event is pretty special.”
“I’m feeling really good right now. I want to keep it going tomorrow in the team event and then into the last World Cup weekend.”
This was Hoffos’ third world championship appearance. Her previous best result was fifth place in her debut in 2021. She has been enjoying one of her best competitive seasons, earning three World Cup podiums, including a second-place finish just last weekend on home snow in Craigleith, Ontario. India Sherret finished eighth overall after placing fourth in the small final.
Oldham wins ski slopestyle bronze
Megan Oldham won her fourth career world championship medal, taking bronze in women’s ski slopestyle. She has never missed the world championship podium in the event, winning bronze in her debut in 2021 followed by silver in 2023.
Oldham scored 70.63 points on her first run, which held up through the second round to put her on the podium. Switzerland’s Mathilde Gremaud took the gold medal with a first-run score of 85.65 points while Austria’s Lara Wolf got the silver with a second run score of 73.33.
Oldham was on the podium in two World Cup slopestyle events this season. She has one more medal opportunity in Engadin, when the big air event gets underway on Wednesday. She won bronze in the event at the 2023 World Championships. The top Canadian in men’s ski slopestyle on Friday was Evan McEachran who finished 12th.