Freestyle Skiing 2018/Men's moguls

Men's moguls
General information
Sport	Freestyle Skiing 2018
Date	9-12 February 2018
Competitors	30 athletes
Venue	Phoenix Snow Park
Previous medalists
Gold	Alex Bilodeau
Silver	Mikael Kingsbury
Bronze	Aleksandr Smyshliaev
Conditions
Temperature	Day 1: -11°C / 12.2°F Day 2: -12°C / 10.4°F
Length	250 metres
Forerunners
Forerunner	Bae Jae-han South Korea
Forerunner	Park Se-jin South Korea
Medalists
	Mikael Kingsbury
	Matt Graham
	Daichi Hara

The men's moguls of Freestyle Skiing 2018 during the 2018 Winter Olympics was held on 9-12 February 2018 in the Phoenix Snow Park. With 30 athletes competing, the event was won by Mikael Kingsbury from Canada, with Matt Graham from Australia taking the silver medal and Daichi Hara from Japan taking bronze.

Format

The competition exists out of two separate rounds. The qualification consists out of two rounds, both conducted on two separate days. In the first round of the qualifications, every athlete receives a score based on a single performance, after which the ten best scores qualify for the final rounds. The remaining athletes go down the slope once more three days later, to receive another score. The ten best scores (in either run) advance to the final as well.

The final consists out of three rounds of a single run, with after every round a selected amount of athletes advancing to the next round. After three rounds (with 20, 12, and 6 athletes, respectively), the winner is decided based on the best run in the third round of the final.

Preview

Thirty athletes qualified for the event and the man to beat was Mikael Kingsbury. Having won a record amount of World Cups, as well as a recent 13 consecutive wins streak, he was ready to upgrade his silver medal of 2014 to the next level. His biggest challenger might be Dmitriy Reikherd, the veteran who had finished on the podium on seven occasions in the previous season, although the only man to have beaten Kingsbury was Japanese Ikuma Horishima, who won the gold medal at the World Championships. Several outsiders, who had shown great performances during the previous season, were Matt Graham, Sho Endo, and Bradley Wilson.

Walter Wallberg was the only athlete born after 1 January 2000. The oldest participant Nobuyuki Nishi, who was almost 15 years older, was one of five athletes to have competed at least twice before 2018, with the others being Anthony Benna, Sho Endo, Dmitriy Reikherd, and reigning bronze medalist Aleksandr Smyshliaev. Kingsbury and Smyshliaev won medals in 2014, while the brother of Bradley Wilson Bryon won the bronze medal in 2010.

Summary

Qualification

Mikael Kingsbury exceeded the expectations, topping the leaderboard after the first round of qualifications, advancing to the final, with more than two points difference with reigning bronze medalist Aleksandr Smyshliaev and almost five points difference with veteran Dmitriy Reikherd. Olympic debutant Troy Murphy received the fourth-highest score, while the Japanese skiers Ikumi Horishima and Daichi Hara were on course to become Asia's first Olympic medalists in men's moguls, being the only other two skiers to receive more than 80 points, closely followed by Pavel Kolmakov. With Philippe Marquis, Matt Graham (world's number 3), and Sacha Theocharis rounding off the top 10, the remaining 20 athletes would have to prove their value in the second round of the qualifications.

Qualification 1 Results
Rank	Nat.	Name	Score
1		Mikael Kingsbury	86.07
2		Aleksandr Smyshliaev	83.93
3		Dmitriy Reikherd	81.23
4		Troy Murphy	80.95
5		Ikuma Horishima	80.35
6		Daichi Hara	80.01
7		Pavel Kolmakov	79.98
8		Philippe Marquis	77.77
9		Matt Graham	77.28
10		Sacha Theocharis	76.55
11		Marc-Antoine Gagnon	76.32
12		Anthony Benna	76.28
13		Sho Endo	75.73
14		Casey Andringa	75.25
15		Bradley Wilson	75.25
16		Nobuyuki Nishi	75.17
17		Rohan Chapman-Davies	73.96
18		Felix Elofsson	73.85
19		Walter Wallberg	73.61
20		Choi Jae Woo	72.95
21		Benjamin Cavet	72.74
22		Emerson Smith	72.59
23		James Matheson	72.27
24		Kim Ji Hyon	69.85
25		Ludvig Fjallstrom	68.57
26		Seo Myung Joon	68.45
27		Jimi Salonen	43.18
28		Jussi Penttala	30.15
29		Vinjar Slatten	DNF
30		Brodie Summers	DNS

The home crowd were able to cheer for Korean Choi Jae-woo, who managed to get the third-highest score of the qualifications, ensuring himself of a place in the finals, while Vinjar Slatten took revenge for his fall in the first qualifications, settling on second place of the remaining athletes. Casey Andringa and Bradley Wilson improved on their score in the first qualification, although both would see them through to the finals, while Marc-Antoine Gagnon kept his dreams alive of improving his fourth-place finish in 2014. Veterans Anthony Benna and Sho Endo managed to slip through with their previous scores, while Jimi Salonen caught up on Nobuyuki Nishi to go to the final round, as well. James Matheson completed the top 10, while youngster Walter Wallberg missed the finals by only 0.14 points.

Qualification 2 Results
Rank	Nat.	Name	Qual. 1	Qual. 2
1		Choi Jae Woo	72.95	81.23
2		Vinjar Slatten	DNF	77.49
3		Casey Andringa	75.25	77.37
4		Bradley Wilson	75.25	76.33
5		Marc-Antoine Gagnon	76.32	75.88
6		Anthony Benna	76.28	60.30
7		Sho Endo	75.73	75.38
8		Jimi Salonen	43.18	75.25
9		Nobuyuki Nishi	75.17	75.15
10		James Matheson	72.27	74.61
11		Walter Wallberg	73.61	74.47
12		Rohan Chapman-Davies	73.96	67.94
13		Emerson Smith	72.59	73.94
14		Felix Elofsson	73.85	73.28
15		Benjamin Cavet	72.74	71.03
16		Ludvig Fjallstrom	68.57	70.36
17		Kim Ji Hyon	69.85	68.17
18		Seo Myung Joon	68.45	69.51
19		Jussi Penttala	30.15	67.96
20		Brodie Summers	DNS

Finals

The first round of the final would have the top 12 competitors advance to the final, and the quality of the competitors' skill was high, with 5 scores above 80 points, lead by Japanese Sho Endo. Matt Graham, Daichi Hara and world's number 1 Mikael Kingsbury were closely contested by each other, only 0.12 points between Graham and Kingsbury, while Casey Andringa was the only other athlete to receive 80 points, almost a point ahead of Kazakh Dmitriy Reikherd. Ikuma Horishima was the third Japanese athlete to advance to the second round of the final, while Marc-Antoine Gagnon and Pavel Kolmakov were the second Canadian and Kazakh to advance, respectively.

Final 1 Results
Rank	Nat.	Name	Score
1		Sho Endo	82.72
2		Matt Graham	81.39
3		Daichi Hara	81.29
4		Mikael Kingsbury	81.27
5		Casey Andringa	80.73
6		Dmitriy Reikherd	79.77
7		Ikuma Horishima	79.64
8		Vinjar Slatten	79.18
9		Marc-Antoine Gagnon	78.38
10		Choi Jae Woo	78.26
11		Pavel Kolmakov	78.22
12		Sacha Theocharis	77.09
13		Anthony Benna	76.43
14		James Matheson	75.98
15		Aleksandr Smyshliaev	74.57
16		Jimi Salonen	72.76
17		Troy Murphy	72.72
18		Bradley Wilson	62.74
19		Nobuyuki Nishi	46.04
20		Philippe Marquis	DNF

With twelve athletes remaining, the field would be cut in half, only six athletes advancing to the last and final round. Circumstances were difficult, with a heavy wind, and this could be recognized in the scores. Sho Endo, Ikuma Horishima, and Choi Jae-woo weren't able to finish their run, while the third Japanese, Daichi Hara, topped the leaderboard, Mikael Kingsbury close behind. With Casey Andringa and Matt Graham the other athletes to score over 80 points, they became real contenders for the medals, while Vinjar Slatten and Marc-Antoine Gagnon were the other two competitors to advance.

Final 2 Results
Rank	Nat.	Name	Score
1		Daichi Hara	82.30
2		Mikael Kingsbury	82.19
3		Casey Andringa	80.80
4		Matt Graham	80.01
5		Vinjar Slatten	78.87
6		Marc-Antoine Gagnon	77.40
7		Pavel Kolmakov	76.10
8		Dmitriy Reikherd	58.64
9		Sacha Theocharis	34.49
10		Sho Endo	DNF
11		Ikuma Horishima	DNF
12		Choi Jae Woo	DNF

In the final round of the competition, Kingsbury was able to receive the highest score of the entire competition, while Graham confirmed his position on the world ranking, in absence of second-ranked Reikherd, who failed to qualify for the third round. Daichi Hara managed to become the first Asian athlete to win an Olympic medal in men's moguls, with a difference of more than five points with fourth-placed Gagnon, who once again finished fourth, just like he did four years before.

Final 3 Results
Rank	Nat.	Name	Score
1		Mikael Kingsbury	86.63
2		Matt Graham	82.57
3		Daichi Hara	82.19
4		Marc-Antoine Gagnon	77.02
5		Casey Andringa	75.50
6		Vinjar Slatten	33.61

Results

Mikael Kingsbury improved on his performance at his Olympic debut in 2014, winning the Olympic title after winning the silver medal at the previous edition. Matt Graham won his first medal at his second Olympic appearance, while bronze medalist Daichi Hara won a medal at his debut. Marc-Antoine Gagnon, who finished just outside of the podium in Sochi, repeated this result in Pyeongchang, while Casey Andringa and Vinjar Slatten reached top 6 at their debut.

Result	Athlete	Nationality
	Mikael Kingsbury	Canada
	Matt Graham	Australia
	Daichi Hara	Japan
4	Marc-Antoine Gagnon	Canada
5	Casey Andringa	United States
6	Vinjar Slatten	Norway
7	Pavel Kolmakov	Kazakhstan
8	Dmitriy Reikherd	Kazakhstan
9	Sacha Theocharis	France
10	Sho Endo	Japan
11	Ikuma Horishima	Japan
12	Choi Jae Woo	South Korea
13	Anthony Benna	France
14	James Matheson	Australia
15	Aleksandr Smyshliaev	Olympic Athletes from Russia
16	Jimi Salonen	Finland
17	Troy Murphy	United States
18	Bradley Wilson	United States
19	Nobuyuki Nishi	Japan
20	Philippe Marquis	Canada
21	Walter Wallberg	Sweden
22	Rohan Chapman-Davies	Australia
23	Emerson Smith	United States
24	Felix Elofsson	Sweden
25	Benjamin Cavet	France
26	Ludvig Fjallstrom	Sweden
27	Kim Ji-hyon	South Korea
28	Seo Myung Joon	South Korea
29	Jussi Penttala	Finland
30	Brodie Summers	Australia