Freestyle world championships: Justine Dufour-Lapointe wins gold

Canada’s Justine Dufour-Lapointe captured her first single moguls gold at the 2015 freestyle world championships, while Mikael Kingsbury took silver on the men’s side Sunday in Kreischberg, Austria.

Dufour-Lapointe, the 2014 Olympic champion, beat American rival Hannah Kearney, and bronze medallist Britteny Cox of Australia.

The Montreal native, who also earned bronze at the 2013 worlds in Norway, scored 87.25 points in the final. Kearney finished with 85.66 points, while Cox gained 81.98 points.

"I am so happy. I can't believe it," Dufour-Lapointe said. "It was a title that I really wanted for two years. And now, being the world champion, it's amazing. I am feeling incredible. I did my best today. I skied the best I could and it worked so well. I am really proud of myself right now."

Dufour-Lapointe's older sister Maxime finished 1.06 points short of the podium in fourth, while her other sister, Chloe, is the 2013 dual moguls world champion but failed to reach the final this time around. 

"We started skiing because it was a family sport," Justine said. "We could all gather and ski together. Then we loved so much to go fast, so we skied in moguls and fell in love with it."

Kingsbury fails to repeat

Kingsbury, who took silver at the Olympics in Sochi, failed in his attempt to repeat as world moguls champion.

The Deux-Montagnes, Que., skier finished 0.35 points behind gold medallist Anthony Benna (86.89 points​) of France. Russian Alexandr Smyshlyaev earned bronze with a score of 85.68 points.

“I’m a little bit disappointed with my final run,” said Kingsbury. “I had a great run in qualifications, but there was a huge gap between runs and the course changed quite a bit. I had a little bit of trouble slowing down during the super final. Tomorrow is a new day and we get to compete in the duals event. I’m going to give it my all to win that.”

Kingsbury had been leading all day, but had a slight miscalculation on his first jump at the top of the hill in the super final that cost him. Aside from his 2013 world title and Olympic silver medal, Kingsbury also won bronze at the 2011 world championships.

Benna was a surprise winner. He hadn't finished in the top 15 of a major championship before. The Frenchman earned his most recent of four career World Cup podiums in Finland in December​.

Marc-Antoine Gagnon, of Terrebonne, Que., finished fifth with 84.78. Philippe Marquis, from Quebec City, did not finish his run.