Dufour-Lapointe sisters take gold-silver in Moguls

February 09, 2014 09:47 am | Updated May 18, 2016 07:05 am IST - Krasnaya Polyana

Gold medalist Canada's Justine Dufour-Lapointe hugs her sister and silver medalist Chloe Dufour-Lapointe, after the women's moguls freestyle skiing event at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, on Saturday.

Gold medalist Canada's Justine Dufour-Lapointe hugs her sister and silver medalist Chloe Dufour-Lapointe, after the women's moguls freestyle skiing event at the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park, at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, on Saturday.

It wasn’t quite a clean sweep but the Canadian Dufour-Lapointe family will have plenty to celebrate after Justine Dufour-Lapointe and sister Chloe captured the Olympic gold and silver medals in Saturday’s women’s moguls.

The 19-year-old Justine let out a scream of disbelief in the finish area at Rosa Khutor Extreme Park when the score for overwhelming favourite and reigning Olympic champion Hannah Kearney of the US came up and was only good enough for the bronze medal.

“It’s incredible. It was my day,” said Justine, whose final run down the course earned a best score of 22.44 points for gold.

“This morning I woke up and was a little stressed. It was the biggest day of my life. It was clear what I had to do. Winning a gold medal is totally crazy. I am living a dream right now.” Justine said accomplishing this with her family so close made it all the more special.

“This is the most satisfying moment, that we did this together.” The 22-year-old Chloe, who finished fifth at the 2010 Vancouver Games, took silver with a score of 21.66, while reigning Olympic champion Kearney earned the bronze with a score of 21.49 after failing to execute a clean run.

“It was a big day. It was a date we expected for four days,” said Chloe.

“The course needed to be skied with emotion and I skied it with my heart and the judges saw that. To get to be on the podium with my sister is amazing and we are so proud of each other and Maxime.” The third Dufour-Lapointe sister, 24-year-old Maxime, did not qualify for the final six—skier run and placed 12th.

Siblings on an Olympic podium are quite rare.

In 1964, Christine Goitschl of France won slalom gold ahead of her sister Marielle, while Marielle got her revenge in the giant slalom ahead of Christine (and Jean Saubert).

The American Mahre brothers Phil and Steve took slalom gold and silver in 1984 and the Neuner sisters Doris and Angelika claimed gold and silver in women’s luge in 1992.

The favourite Kearney looked shaky in the penultimate run and then could not race cleanly in the final either.

“Unfortunately it doesn’t feel good. I feel like I let myself down,” said Kearney, who could not hold back tears at the medal winners’ press conference.

“I wanted that gold medal. But I made a huge mistake, and you don’t win a gold medal with a huge mistake in your run. I’ll have to see this as a reward for fighting.” Justine Dufour-Lapointe spoke very highly of Kearney.

“Hannah was always the girl to beat. She is so strong mentally and physically. Every year I was always closer to her. This is my year, this is my day. But I really appreciate and respect that woman,” said the young gold medal winner.

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