Kransnaya Polyana (Russia), Feb 9 (IANS): Justine Dufour-Lapointe won Canada’s first gold medal of the Sochi Winter Olympics in women’s moguls while her younger sister Chloe, with a silver, stood on the podium beside her.
Justine saved her best for the super-final Saturday, earning a score of 22.44 points, while Chloe was second with 21.66 points. Defending champion Hannah Kearney of the United States made several mistakes in her final run and was forced to settle for third at 21.49, reports Xinhua.
“It just totally rocks. Today I gave everything I had inside. I haven’t eaten since 12 this morning. I felt the pressure but I tried to just put that away,” said Justine.
With the 1-2 finish, the Canadian sisters become the third sisters to finish 1-2 at the Winter Games.
“It feels amazing. It happened at the World Cup but now it’s at the Olympics. We had to do three runs and we did it together. We’re just really happy,” said Chloe.
One of the most dominant freestyle skiers of all time, Kearney is a two-time World Champion with five World Cup moguls titles, three World Cup freestyle overall titles and the 2010 Vancouver Games gold medal to her name. She finished 21.93 points and led the top-six into the super-finals but several turning mistakes during her final run cost her the gold.
“It wasn’t the nerves, it was a simple kick out. I did everything I could. I fought back from a not very good run but that one turn got the best of me today. It’s really unfortunate it’s at the Olympics but I’m sure something good will come of it. I’m just not sure what it is yet,” said the 24-year-old American.
A third Dufour-Lapoint sister, Maxime, advanced into the Final 2 but failed to make the super-final by finishing 12th with 18.64.
