Zhangjiakou, 5 February 2022 (TDI): On Saturday, 21 years old Walter Wallberg from Sweden won the first Gold Medal in Men’s freestyle moguls event at Winter Olympics 2022.
Wallberg beat his Canadian competitor Mikael Kingsbury who has already won 71 World Cup titles. Wallberg has never won a World Cup event. In the Winter Olympics 2022, he performed the run of his life by claiming the Olympic title and the gold medal in the freestyle skiing moguls event at the Zhangjiakou snow park in Beijing.
After the medal ceremony, Wallberg said “I’ve been away for two years, then rehabbing after a knee injury. So it’s an amazing feeling. This gold has been my goal since I was a child. I’ve been working so hard for this so it’s amazing.’’
In the event, Wallberg scored 83.23 with the amazing speed of his run of 23.
7s. The Canadian Athlete has shown his unique class and style in the aerials and turns with the speed of 25.02s making him able to secure 82.
1 points from the judges.
The 29 years old Canadian Mikael Kingsbury was about to add another gold in his collection and defend his Pyeong Chang 2018 winter Olympic game title. However, he became the first-ever athlete to win three Olympic medals in men’s moguls.
While sharing his thoughts about Wallberg, Mikael Kingsbury said, “Walter, with the pressure on, put down the best run of the day.
I’m very proud of him too, to become part of our little group of Olympic champions.’’
Kingsbury further added, “This is my third Olympic Games and I’ve had three medals. It’s awesome.” “Our sport is so much about performance on one single day and we have one event at every game so it’s not easy.”
The Japanese athlete Hiroshima Ikuma finished third. Hiroshima was able to secure 81.48 points at the speed of 23.86s as his run contained some errors, according to the judges.
