Mikaël Kingsbury clinches Crystal Globe with moguls gold at weather-shortened Kazakhstan event
Canadian takes moguls title, leads in overall and dual moguls standings with 3 events to go
Canada's Mikaël Kingsbury clinched the World Cup moguls season title thanks to a gold-medal performance at an event in Almaty, Kazakhstan, on Friday.
The win not only secured a Crystal Globe for the Canadian freestyle skiing star, it tightened his grip on the overall World Cup standings.
Friday's victory, the 97th of Kingsbury's World Cup career, came a little easier than usual for the Deux-Montagnes, Que., native. Fog created poor visibility and forced the cancellation of the men's final.
The Canadian had the top score in the qualifying runs (81.17) to win his seventh World Cup event this season.
South Korean skier Daeyoon Jung (79.08) took silver while Japan's Ikuma Horishima (77.82) won bronze.
Kingsbury now has 10 medals (seven golds, three silvers) across 13 World Cup events this season.
The Canadian is in the driver's seat when it comes to the race for the Crystal Globes in all three season-long World Cup moguls standings (moguls, dual moguls, and overall).
WATCH | Kingsbury earns 97th World Cup win without having to compete in final:
Horishima is the closest competitor to Kingsbury in all three standings. The Japanese skier trails Kingsbury by 176 points in moguls, 64 points in dual moguls, and 240 points in the overall standings.
On the women's side, the final was able to be contested before visibility became too poor to compete. Skiers Tess Johnson and Jaelin Kauf gave the U.S. a 1-2 finish in Almaty while Rina Yanagimoto of Japan won bronze.
Saskatoon's Maia Schwinghammer finished in 11th place and is in third place in the overall moguls standings.
The World Cup moguls circuit continues Saturday with the dual moguls event, where Kingsbury also leads in the Crystal Globe chase.
Watch live coverage of the events on CBCSports.ca and CBC Gem. A live streaming schedule is available here.