Mikael KINGSBURY

Historical Results

Mik, the King of Moguls, Wayne Gretzky of moguls skiing. (The Gretzky nickname was given him by athletes and media due to his ability to break records at a Gretzky-like pace). (nationalpost.com, 13 Dec 2015; skitheworld.com, 10 Jan 2018)

Ice hockey, golf, surfing, skateboarding.

Plays Rubik's cube in between heats with other skiers to occupy time if weather is delaying the race. In Almaty 2021 World Cup Finals (dual moguls), he played for a while and discussed strategies with Ikuma Horishima (JPN).

Athlete

Human Movement Studies, Science - College of General and Vocational Education [CEGEP] (Canada)

Partner, Laurence Mongeon. Parents, Robert and Julie. Brother, Maxime. Sister, Audrey.

French, English

Sommet St-Sauveur

National: Mike Hamelin (CAN)
Personal: Jim Schiman (CAN), Rob Kober (CAN), Dean Bercovitch (CAN)

Brother Maxime Kingsbury (Freestyle skiing): Competed in moguls at provincial level.

Sister Audrey Kingsbury (Freestyle skiing): Competed in moguls at provincial level.

2005 FIS event in Beaver Valley (Moguls - 30th)
2010 World Cup in Calgary (Moguls - 36th)

December 2020: Fractured his T4 and T5 vertebrae after landing awkwardly during training in Ruka, Finland. Missed the first three World Cup events of the 2020/21 season. Had not missed a World Cup start in his 10-year career. When he came back to competitions, he won the events in Deer Valley, USA as well as everything else after that, including two gold medals at the 2021 World Championships in Almaty, KAZ.

"I got scared for sure, especially after people tell me that I was pretty lucky (to not suffer a worse injury). If I was a guy that didn’t take care of his body and wasn’t in good shape, it could have been way worse. But the roughest part of the injury for me was missing some events, because I’ve competed in 107 World Cup events in a row since the Vancouver Olympic Games. But at the same time, I thought to myself, ‘This is good timing for an injury like this, because it's a weird season. There are fewer events and it didn’t happen just before the Olympics.' " (cbc.ca, 3 Dec 2020)

2009

Grew up on skis at his family's cabin near Saint-Sauveur, just north of Montreal, Quebec, not far from where he grew up and the same place he made his moguls debut at the age of eight. That cabin was only a couple of doors down from Alex Bilodeau, who won Canada's historic first gold medal in moguls at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games. (cbc.ca, 3 Dec 2021)

Inspired after watching Finland’s Janne Lahtela moguls gold at the Salt Lake City 2002 Olympic Winter Games. Made his own picture of the Olympic rings, with a note saying he would be an Olympic champion one day, which still hung above his bed while he was competing at the Olympic Winter Games. (mtlblog.com, 13 Feb 2018; freestylecanada.ski)

Defend his gold medal at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games. "I love seeing it as defending what I have. For sure, I'll be ready. I'll be older and much wiser and more experienced. It's going to be different in 2022. Not as much pressure as I had in 2018. The passion is still the same. That's what I'm very happy about. I'm still in love with the sport." (cbc.ca, 12 Nov 2018)

Trains five days a week at Hockey Etcetera - a state of the art complex with a fitness centre, ice rinks, pools, ice baths and saunas - with National Hockey League (NHL) players such as Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid and Kris Letang. "I didn't get to skate with them but I did some of the drills they did. It's great cardio. I train often with Kris Letang. It's a really cool set-up here."

He trains to be perfect in every aspect of his training. Athletic therapist and strength coach Marc Nadeau has been working with him for the past five years. "Mik has high standards. We can't be fooling around or making stuff up with him. We have to bring our 'A' game every day." (cbc.ca, 3 Dec 2021)

Winning gold at PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games. (olympic.ca, 11 Dec 2018)

Ice hockey player Sidney Crosby (CAN), two-time Olympic champion, three-time Stanley Cup champion (2009, 2016, 2017) with the Pittsburgh Penguins of the National Hockey League (NHL).

Swimmer Michael Phelps (USA), 23-time Olympic champion (three silver, two bronze), 26-time World champion (long course).

Freestyle skier Jean-Luc Brassard (CAN), 1994 Olympic moguls champion, two-time World champion.

Freestyle skier Alexandre Bilodeau (CAN), Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games moguls champion, becoming the first Canadian to win Olympic gold on home soil. Their friendship became mutually beneficial as they grew in their careers together and reached the pinnacle of their sport. "We were pretty much neighbours. When I was eight, he told me how to train. We grew up on the same ski slope. Had the same coaches. I was eight, he was 13. To train with people like Alex, who went on to win the Olympics, was incredible." (cbc.ca, 3 Dec 2021)

Wears the same brand of boxers (underwear) in every competition. His lucky t-shirt says, "It's good to be the king" and has worn it since reaching his first World Cup podium in 2010. Always wears his Livestrong bracelet. (olympic.ca)

At age 10, he put the Olympic rings above his bed with the words “I will win”. (coc.ca)

Nothing is impossible. (Athlete)

Canadian Press Male Athlete of the Year (Lou Marsh Trophy) (2018)

Guinness World Record: The most wins of the FIS Freestyle Skiing World Cup by a male skier is nine, consecutively between 2011/12 and 2019/20.(guinnessworldrecords.com)

John Semmelink Memorial Award (2020)