PYEONGCHANG, SOUTH KOREA—Canadian moguls star Mikael Kingsbury is starting to feel comfortable on next year’s Olympic course.

The skier from Deux-Montagnes, Que., won a gold medal at a World Cup freestyle skiing event on the Olympic course in Pyeongchang, South Korea on Saturday. It was Kingsbury’s first time on the hill, and he thinks his performance may lead to his first-ever Olympic gold when he competes on the same course at the 2018 Games.

“It’s nice to take all this information and moving forward to the Olympics it’s great to be on the podium and try to repeat that next year,” said Kingsbury with a laugh.

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He finished first with 86.71 points, just ahead of Dmitriy Reiherd of Kazakhstan, who scored 86.70. Quebec City’s Philippe Marquis was third with 85.94.

“People were very close to me tonight, by 0.01,” said Kingsbury. “Dmitriy skied amazing. I haven’t seen his run yet, but I know what he’s capable of.”

Laurent Dumais of Quebec City was ninth, Marc-Antoine Gagnon of Terrebonne, Que., was 14th, Simon Pouliot-Cavanagh of Quebec City was 18th and Luke Ulsifer of Calgary finished 34th.

On the women’s side, Justine Dufour-Lapointe of Montreal was second with 78.35 while Andi Naude of Penticton, B.C., was third at 78.16. Australian Britteny Cox captured gold with 81.66 points.

Chloe Dufour-Lapointe of Montreal was eighth, Audrey Robichaud of Quebec City was ninth, Alex-Anne Gagnon of Terrebonne, Que., was 15th and Maxime Dufour-Lapointe of Montreal was 24th.

Kingsbury, who leads the overall World Cup moguls standings, will be gunning for his first Olympic gold on the Pyeongchang course next winter. He won silver three years ago at the Sochi Games. Justine Dufour-Lapointe is the women’s defending Olympic champion.

Canada’s Marielle Thompson is the top Canadian in the women’s World Cup moguls standings in third place.

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