Moguls, Women

Reigning Olympic and 2015 World Champion Justine Dufour-Lapointe of Canada was a good choice for a favorite in the women’s moguls event at 2018 Winter Olympics, but she had only managed third place at the 2017 World Championships and was far from a shoo-in. Ahead of her at that tournament had been Australia’s Britteny Cox, who had come third in 2015, and France’s Perrine Laffont, who had been 14th at the last Winter Games, but had also captured the dual moguls title at the 2017 Worlds. Other medal contenders included Justine’s sister Chloé, the 2014 Olympic runner-up, and Jaelin Kauf of the United States, ranked #1 in the World Cup standings.

There were few surprises in the first qualification round, although Chloé Dufour-Lapointe had to compete in the second qualifying round in order to advance to the finals. Laffont finished at the top of the pack, but only 0.12 points separated her from Canadian Andi Naude, a promising newcomer who was ranked #2 in the World Cup standings. American Morgan Schild came in an unexpected third, and was followed by Justine Dufour-Lapointe, Kauf, and Cox. Both Chloé Dufour-Lapointe and Schild performed disappointingly in the first run of the final and failed to advance. On the other hand, Justine’s performance suggested that she was in fantastic form to defend her gold medal. The second run was won convincingly by Naude, with Cox not far behind in her performance, while Kauf just missed the cut-off and was eliminated. Behind Naude and Cox were Laffont, Justine Dufour-Lapointe, the relatively unknown Jakara Anthony of Australia, and Kazakhstan’s Yuliya Galysheva, competing in her third Olympics.

This lineup promised an exciting finale, and the competitors did not disappoint. Galysheva went first and put on a strong showing that would end up securing her the bronze medal, which was her country’s first Olympic podium finish in the sport. After an admirable, but ultimately insufficient, run from Anthony, Dufour-Lapointe’s performed impressively and put herself ahead of the others and in a strong position to claim gold once again. Laffont, however, was next and offered an excellent show in the round’s quickest time, enough to place her ahead of Dufour-Lapointe by 0.09 points. With Cox scoring lower than Anthony and Naude skiing off course, the podium was set, with Laffont taking gold and Dufour-Lapointe having to settle for silver.