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PYEONGCHANG — Mikael Kingsbury said all week that it wasn’t about his legacy.

It was about his legacy.

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With a thrilling final run at Phoenix Snow Park late Monday night, all Kingsbury did was lock down his claim to being the best freestyle skier in history, adding an Olympic gold to his absurd moguls resume.

Photo by Jean Levac / Postmedia Network

Kingsbury, already a legend at 25, said after training, and again after qualifying, that he wasn’t thinking about the gold. There was too much work to do, he said. So, did he finally start to think about it up in the starting gate, when he was the second-last skier and his biggest rivals had already faltered?

“No,” he said. “I thought about it all morning. And I was super nervous.”

Now, it was honesty time. He knew, no matter what he kept saying, that his career needed this medal. No one wants to be the most dominant moguls skier in history who twice failed to win the biggest competition in the sport.