FREESTYLE:

Justine Dufour-Lapointe bests sisters for dual moguls crown

March 27, 2011 — The Canadian Press     ♦ Photo: Justine Dufour-Lapointe (Mike Ridewood, CFSA)

VAL ST. COME, Quebec — Montreal’s Justine Dufour-Lapointe earned the dual moguls national championship by beating both of her older sisters Sunday at the Canadian freestyle ski championships.

The 2011 FIS Rookie of the Year beat sister Maxime in the quarterfinals, then bested teammate Beatrice Bilodeau in the semifinals to meet up with sister Chloe in the finals.

Justine Dufour-Lapointe kept up her habit of roaring at the starting gates to try to intimidate opponents before races, even though her sisters knew it was coming.

"It makes me aggressive and winning nationals is a big deal to me," said the 17-year-old. "I've wanted this title since I was young so I wasn't going to do anything different than usual in the start gate."

Bilodeau, of Rosemere, Que., defeated Christel Hamel of St. Sauveur, Que., for the bronze medal.

On the men's side, Mikael Kingsbury had a perfect outing, winning both the qualification and final runs for the single and dual moguls events.

Kingsbury took full advantage of the absence of Olympic champion Alex Bilodeau, who took the weekend off to rest an injured heel.

"When I was young I watched nationals at Mont Gabriel and I saw PA (Pierre-Alexandre Rousseau) and Alex (Bilodeau) win. They were my heroes," said the native of Ste-Agathe-des-Monts, Que. "With my wins this weekend I feel like I've joined their league, I can't quite believe it."

Kingsbury beat Marc-Antoine Gagnon of Terrebonne, Que., in the final dual of the day.

Simon Pouliot-Cavanagh of Quebec City earned the bronze medal with a win over Eddie Hicks of Langley, B.C.