DEER VALLEY, Utah - Montreal's Justine Dufour-Lapointe won her second World Cup of the season and the 11th of her career on Thursday night while her sister Chloe earned bronze in the women's moguls in Deer Valley, Utah.
Mikael Kingsbury of Deux-Montagnes, Que., won silver in the men's event.
Justine led the way with a score of 77.80. Kazakhstan's Yulia Galysheva finished second with 77.75 points and Chloe came in third with 77.11 in a very tight final.
"I am very happy overall with my day, it was not easy and the course is a good challenge for us. It requires performance, clean skiing, big jumps and good speed," said Justine. "The course is physically demanding. Throughout the day, I increased my rhythm and I have to admit that I am really happy with my skiing.
"I have the impression that all of the training that I did this summer is paying off. I felt good and fast without forcing anything. I think that is the feeling that all skiers look for. I am really happy to have the yellow bib too. I know the race is currently very close, but it's always a good feeling."
All three Dufour-Lapointe sisters qualified for the six-woman super final and Maxime, the eldest sister, finished just off the podium in fourth place with 74.46. Justine has overtaken Chloe in the overall World Cup standings 304 to 300. The two have been in a battle all season for the yellow bib and the overall points lead.
Kingsbury was the only Canadian male to reach the final. Kingsbury, who entered the event having won 10 out of the last 11 World Cups, finished in second place to Australia's Matt Graham. Kingsbury score of 82.75 fell short of Graham's 83.48. Sweden's Ludvig Fjallstrom was third with 81.41.
"I am very happy with the way I skied all day because I showed good consistency. The course was not easy during the final and usually the FIS let's us fix the snow during the races. We were not able to this time, so it was more challenging," said Kingsbury. "I was able to manage the pressure of this level of racing quite well. I am happy to be on the podium with Matt (Graham) and Ludvig (Fjallstrom), two of my best friends on the World Cup circuit. I would have liked to continue winning and have a perfect season, but it's still second place and I can't be disappointed with that!"
The depth of the women's team was on display once again today as Andi Naude of Penticton, B.C., and Quebec City's Audrey Robichaud qualified for the 16-woman small final with the Dufour-Lapointe sisters. Robichaud finished in 11th and Naude in 13th.
