Canada's Mikaël Kingsbury returned to the top of the men's dual moguls standings with victory in Deer Valley ©Getty Images

Canada's Mikaël Kingsbury claimed his 78th International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) Freestyle Ski World Cup with a men's dual moguls victory in Deer Valley, while France's Perrine Laffont topped the women's podium for the first time this season in the same discipline.

Three-time Olympic medallist Kingsbury placed second in the singles moguls on Thursday (February 2) to clinch the season title.

He saw off Sweden's Albin Holmgren in the round of 16 and Britain's William Feneley in the quarter-finals before defeating the singles moguls winner in the Utah resort, Walter Wallberg of Sweden, in the semi-finals.

Kingsbury then dominated the final on the champion run against Australia's Matt Graham to clinch a fourth World Cup victory of the season and second in the dual moguls.

He returned to the top of the discipline standings for dual moguls, moving onto 282 points ahead of Wallberg's 265, and is on course to win the overall moguls Crystal Globe with 722 to the 478 of Japan's Ikuma Horishima.

Wallberg finished third in the dual moguls in Deer Valley by edging out Japan's Yutaro Murata in the small final.

Former moguls Olympic champion Laffont had finished in the top three at seven of the eight moguls World Cups this season, including a third-place finish in Thursday's singles event, but had not topped a podium.

After seven podium finishes, Perrine Laffont of France, centre, claimed her first World Cup victory of the season in the Deer Valley dual moguls ©Getty Images
After seven podium finishes, Perrine Laffont of France, centre, claimed her first World Cup victory of the season in the Deer Valley dual moguls ©Getty Images

Laffont overcame Americans Tees Johnson and Elizabeth Lemley and Japan's Rino Yanagimoto to set up a final against the United States' home favourite and Beijing 2022 silver medallist Jaelin Kauf.

Kauf was forced to brake in the middle part of the course, paving the way for Laffont to triumph 22-13.

Hannah Soar of the US earned her first podium finish since 2021 with an 18-17 small final victory against Yanagimoto.

Yanagimoto had knocked out Olympic champion and overall moguls World Cup leader Jakara Anthony of Australia in the quarter-finals.

Dual moguls discipline leader Anri Kawamura of Japan also lost in the quarter-finals to Soar.

Kawamura continues to lead the dual moguls standings, but is now level on 320 points with Laffont.

The French star also cut Anthony's overall moguls lead to just 14 points, the pair sitting on 650 and 664 points respectively.

Valmalenco in Italy is scheduled to host another dual moguls FIS Freestyle World Cup event next Saturday (February 11) before the Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships in the Georgian resort of Bakuriani from February 18 to March 5.