Chloé Dufour-Lapointe | “It was a relief, but also a great pride”

Chloé Dufour-Lapointe didn’t recognize the number when her phone rang last Tuesday. It was Peter Judge, General Manager of Freestyle Canada.

Simon Drouin
The Press

” How are you ?

– Well… okay.

“Maybe you’ll feel better after this…”

The freestyle skier started crying. After “three, four rather stressful and nebulous days”, she finally obtained confirmation that she would participate in her fourth Olympic Games, in Beijing, next month.

If the qualification of his younger sister Justine was heard, his was hanging by a thread.

Until then, the mogul specialist was the first substitute for a women’s team that had 14 members. She nevertheless clung to hope: an injury, COVID-19, you never know. She also thought about submitting her case to an arbitrator, explained her trainer.

Eventually, she qualified with full rights. The International Ski Federation (FIS) has confirmed that Canada’s participation in the new freestyle jumping team event allows it to swell its team from 30 to 32 athletes.

Chloé Dufour-Lapointe therefore obtained her ticket, as did her teammate Sofiane Gagnon, who was the second substitute.

“When I found out, it was a relief, but also a great source of pride,” testified the 30-year-old Montrealer in an interview Monday morning.

At the time of Judge’s call, Chloe was with her younger sister Justine, with whom she is doing a final preparation camp in British Columbia. She was filming her reaction, a reflex since they participated in a family documentary broadcast on Canal Vie.

They immediately contacted their parents and their older sister Maxime, who will be a mentor for the Canadian team in Beijing. Despite the different time zones, everyone was able to join the call.

“We are very united, recalled Chloé. In our family, we also tend to celebrate every little victory. That was a big celebration for us. We saw each other going to the Games together. […] The three of us are still going there, in a different way. We are all equally happy. »

After a more difficult last season, the silver medalist at the 2014 Olympics bounced back this winter by executing a new maneuver on the top jump at each start, an off-axis 720 that took her a while to master.

On January 8, his eighth place at the second Tremblant World Cup event, a high in more than two years, was decisive in his qualification for Beijing. She will be the first Canadian in history to take part in four Games in freestyle skiing.

“I’m a big dreamer at heart,” said Chloé. Doubt is always an athlete’s worst enemy. I left no room for that and decided to just go for it with focus, fun and [la volonté] to give it your all. »

Justine won Olympic gold in 2014, sharing the podium with Chloé, and silver in 2018. The 27-year-old was fourth in the first competition of the 2020-2021 campaign, which gave her a step forward. ‘advance. She reconnected with the top 10 this month in Tremblant and Deer Valley (9^and), thus consolidating its position.

The uncertainty surrounding her sister’s status has been “testing and super difficult”. “We are human. Not feeling what the other is going through is impossible in our case. It was really heartbreaking and heartbreaking to think of going there without her, after this beautiful dream that we have been cultivating for four years already. I’m filled with happiness and I’m relieved to finally be able to say that we’re both going. It is a victory in itself. »

Slowed down by COVID-19 at the start of the year, Gagnon, from Whistler, will therefore be the third Canadian starter.

Kingsbury as leader

The reigning world and Olympic champion, Mikaël Kingsbury, was already assured of his third Olympic participation.

His goal is to get on the podium for the third time – which would be unprecedented in his discipline for men -, ideally on the top step, but he reiterated that he was not obsessed with it.

“Getting to where I am, I know I can do it,” responded the Deux-Montagnes worker.

Unprecedented situation for the Canadian team, Kingsbury will only be able to count on one teammate, Laurent Dumais, who has managed a spectacular comeback after missing the first half of the season due to a herniated disc.

After a cortisone injection, the athlete from Quebec has continually improved in his last four World Cup starts, where he played his all despite the pain. He sealed his ticket to his first Olympics by taking eighth place in the last Deer Valley race, his first top 10 since his sixth place at the Worlds in Kazakhstan last winter.

“When I took the start of the World Cup in Tremblant, I knew that the task would be very difficult. Mik was already qualified and we were all fighting for the other places. It was very tight. I am proud of what I have accomplished. »

Quebec Air Force

Very complex, the Olympic qualification process for freestyle skiing events involved five disciplines: moguls, jumping, halfpipe, freestyle downhill/big jump and ski cross. They shared the 32 places available for Canada at the Beijing Olympics – 16 men and 16 women – the maximum number. A maximum of four athletes per gender and per discipline could be chosen.

Headed by Alpine Canada, the ski cross team, unveiled last week, has had its fill. Olympic medalist Britt Phelan, from Mont-Tremblant, is the only Quebecer selected. Hannah and Jared, sister and brother, are from Ottawa, but represent the Mont-Tremblant ski club.

In acrobatic jumping, the entire Canadian team is from Quebec. Marion Thénault and Lewis Irving had already qualified for their first Olympics. Recruits Flavie Aumond, Naomy Boudreau-Guertin, Miha Fontaine and Émile Nadeau complete this contingent resembling the new generation Quebec Air Force.

Miha is also the son of Nicolas Fontaine, former world champion and quadruple Olympic athlete who was a true architect in the reconstruction of the Canadian team at the Lac-Beauport centre.

“In the entrance to our house, we have all of our executives with their medals and Olympic bibs,” said Miha, 18. I asked him: are we going to be able to put mine next to it? It’s fun to follow in his footsteps, but to do it my way. I am really happy. »

In acrobatic descent (slopestyle) and big jump (big air), young Olivia Asselin, brilliant bronze medalist at the X Games last weekend, and Édouard Thérriault, bronze at the Font-Romeu World Cup last week , will now twirl on the Beijing modules and ramps.

At 17, Asselin will be the youngest member of the entire Canadian Olympic team.

“We are going to send the largest contingent in our history with a total of 24 athletes who will compete in 11 events in 5 disciplines, welcomed Peter Judge. We are thrilled to see them embark on such a journey to continue the proud tradition that Freestyle Canada has forged at the Games. »

Quebec claims 13 of the 32 Canadian starters in Beijing in the freestyle skiing disciplines. Most of the athletes will fly from Vancouver on Wednesday to reach Beijing the next day, a week before the start of the competitions.