Mikael the winning machine

Just 24, he’s the world’s top moguls skier

Hin Calgary e can walk through the airport in most major Canadian cities without anyone recognizing him, but Mikael Kingsbury is arguably this country’s most dominant athlete in any sport.

We’ve actually reached the point where Kingsbury only makes headlines when he fails to grace the top of the podium at any given stop on the World Cup moguls circuit.

Automatic? Not quite, but almost.

Just call him Mikael the machine.

“I think the numbers speak for themselves,” says fellow Canadian freestyle team member Philippe Marquis. “He’s 24 right now, and he’s the winningest mogul skier of all time. He’s pushing the sport with new tricks like never before.

“He’s the Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid of our sport. He’s definitely redefining the limits.’’

Redefining the limits is a way of life for Kingsbury, who won World Cup gold for a record 34th time this weekend in Ruka, Finland.

When it comes to raw skills, no one can match the 24-year-old daredevil from Deux Montagnes, Que. His speed is unparalleled, along with his ability to turn tricks high above the mogul field.

“He has a very unique air sense,” Marquis says. “He can do stuff that only gymnasts, and trampolinists and aerial skiers can do. So that’s a very good tool for him.”

Consistency is arguably Kingsbury’s greatest tool. A winner of the crystal globe as the World Cup overall freestyle champion for the past five years, Kingsbury captured the world championship title in single moguls in 2013 and dual moguls in 2015.

The 5-foot-8, 150-pounder can’t count the number of times O Canada has played in his honour.

“It’s simple for me,” Kingsbury says when asked to explain his routine dominance. “I have fun and I try to do the best I can on every run I do.

“I try to focus more on the process I need to do to win instead of the outcome. If you start thinking too much about the outcome — about winning or being on the podium — it’s rarely going to work. If you focus run by run — one jump at a time, one bump at a time — you will become faster and it will be way easier to be consistent because you’re right in the moment.”

No one could blame Kingsbury for dwelling on the golden moment that slipped away at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. His countryman, Alex Bilodeau, knocked him out of first place to silver with the world watching.

Four years is a long time to ruminate over what went wrong and right on the ultimate stage.

But Kingsbury believes he can expect himself to perform well at the 2018 Winter Games if he makes excellence a daily habit.