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Perrine Laffont of France won a third consecutive World Championship in moguls while Japan's Ikuma Horishima earned his second title, ending Canadian Mikaël Kingsbury's streak.
Laffont, the 2018 Olympic gold medalist, scored 77.92 points in her super final run to overtake Hinako Tomitaka of Japan.
"It's hard to believe," Laffont said through tears within minutes of the victory. "I didn't think it could happen."
Canadian Maia Schwinghammer earned bronze at worlds in Switzerland on Wednesday.
American Jaelin Kauf, the World Cup season champion, was eighth in the eight-woman final. Kauf was bumped off her line in the middle section of moguls.
Laffont, 26, became the first woman to win three world titles in moguls. She also owns three world titles in dual moguls, an event that makes its Olympic debut at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games.
Since winning her last world title in 2023, Laffont took the 2023-24 season off as a break ahead of the 2025 Worlds and 2026 Olympics. This season, she finished second in the World Cup standings to Kauf.
In “Strong,” a 2023 film on the mental health of some of France’s top athletes, Laffont said she wanted to quit the sport in 2019 due to expectations, pressure and scrutiny that came with becoming an Olympic champion at age 19. She said it was the start of the “first hard moments” of her career.
Later Wednesday, Horishima won his second world title in moguls, and first in eight years.
The 2022 Olympic bronze medalist dominated the men's super final with 89.03 points, distancing Kingsbury (82.68) and bronze medalist Daeyoon Jung (81.76). American Nick Page took fourth.
Horishima landed a cork 1440 off the second and final jump.
Kingsbury had swept the moguls and dual moguls titles at the last three worlds in 2019, 2021 and 2023. Horishima won both in 2017.
Though Kingsbury won his 13th World Cup overall season title this winter, plus reached 99 career World Cup victories, Horishima won three of the last four World Cup moguls competitions.
The dual moguls event at these worlds is Friday.
The top U.S. female moguls skier and male moguls skier on the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) points lists going into the 2025-26 season clinch a spot on the 2026 Olympic team, should they also be ranked in the top three overall. Those lists are expected to be posted later in the spring.
Kauf went into worlds ranked No. 1 in FIS points, having won the World Cup season titles in moguls and dual moguls.
2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics: Storylines one year out from the Games
The U.S. Winter Olympic team is loaded with new stars and returning legends going into the Milan Cortina Games.
Continue reading...
Laffont, the 2018 Olympic gold medalist, scored 77.92 points in her super final run to overtake Hinako Tomitaka of Japan.
"It's hard to believe," Laffont said through tears within minutes of the victory. "I didn't think it could happen."
Canadian Maia Schwinghammer earned bronze at worlds in Switzerland on Wednesday.
American Jaelin Kauf, the World Cup season champion, was eighth in the eight-woman final. Kauf was bumped off her line in the middle section of moguls.
Laffont, 26, became the first woman to win three world titles in moguls. She also owns three world titles in dual moguls, an event that makes its Olympic debut at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games.
Since winning her last world title in 2023, Laffont took the 2023-24 season off as a break ahead of the 2025 Worlds and 2026 Olympics. This season, she finished second in the World Cup standings to Kauf.
In “Strong,” a 2023 film on the mental health of some of France’s top athletes, Laffont said she wanted to quit the sport in 2019 due to expectations, pressure and scrutiny that came with becoming an Olympic champion at age 19. She said it was the start of the “first hard moments” of her career.
Later Wednesday, Horishima won his second world title in moguls, and first in eight years.
The 2022 Olympic bronze medalist dominated the men's super final with 89.03 points, distancing Kingsbury (82.68) and bronze medalist Daeyoon Jung (81.76). American Nick Page took fourth.
Horishima landed a cork 1440 off the second and final jump.
Kingsbury had swept the moguls and dual moguls titles at the last three worlds in 2019, 2021 and 2023. Horishima won both in 2017.
Though Kingsbury won his 13th World Cup overall season title this winter, plus reached 99 career World Cup victories, Horishima won three of the last four World Cup moguls competitions.
The dual moguls event at these worlds is Friday.
The top U.S. female moguls skier and male moguls skier on the International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) points lists going into the 2025-26 season clinch a spot on the 2026 Olympic team, should they also be ranked in the top three overall. Those lists are expected to be posted later in the spring.
Kauf went into worlds ranked No. 1 in FIS points, having won the World Cup season titles in moguls and dual moguls.
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2026 Milan Cortina Winter Olympics: Storylines one year out from the Games
The U.S. Winter Olympic team is loaded with new stars and returning legends going into the Milan Cortina Games.
Continue reading...
