Photo: Jonathan Hayward

Alex Bilodeau became the first Canadian man to successfully defend an individual Olympic Games gold medal, sharing the moguls podium with Mikaël Kingsbury who finished second.

The 26-year-old, who was Canada’s first home soil gold medallist at Vancouver 2010, again rose up in the Olympic final run. Stumbling slightly through the first two finals, Bilodeau showed resiliency and was tremendous at the end. His score of 26.31 was well clear of the field, including Kingsbury who registered 24.71. Alexandr Smyshlyaev won the bronze medal with 24.34.

Canada’s Marc-Antoine Gagnon was fourth, despite qualifying in the top-3 for the final six. Philippe Marquis was ninth.

Both Bilodeau and Kingsbury have three FIS World Cup victories this season, which set up the dramatic final.

WATCH: Bilodeau wins his second Olympic moguls gold

Canada now has four medals in moguls at these Games. Justine and Chloé Dufour-Lapointe went 1-2 in women’s moguls on Saturday.

WATCH: Silver medallist’s Kingsbury Olympic journey