Justine Dufour-Lapointe: from Moguls superstar to Freeride hero

To become a global champion in one sport is an accomplishment in itself. To do so in two is special indeed. And Justine Dufour-Lapointe has the chance to achieve that double at the first FIS Freeride World Championships in Andorra from February 1-6.

The Canadian was just 19 when she won gold in Moguls at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games. The youngest of three sisters - Chloé and Maxime also competed at the top level in Moguls - Justine added the world title a year later.

Justine Dufour-Lapointe went on to take silver at the PyeongChang 2018 Games, but a fall in the final at Beijing 2022 wrecked her hopes of winning a third Olympic medal.

“Having a major crash in front of the whole world was not what I wished for!” she reflects. “That’s pretty much the worst case scenario for any athlete at the Olympic Games. But I think this moment, where I learned that it was not my crash that defined me but rather how I stood up for myself and kept going, really reflects myself.

“It also taught me that it was not over. I still had room to improve, to reinvent myself in a new direction. And I think it gave me that willpower to try something new. After you crash in front of the whole world, you’re less scared of crashing anymore! It was a blessing, because it gave me a totally new perspective on my career and how I defined myself as an athlete. I think that’s why I was so thrilled and excited to try Freeride.”

Dufour-Lapointe had already thought about switching to Freeride a year before Beijing - “It was obvious that I was ready maybe for a new challenge in my life” - having seen former Moguls rival Hedwig Wessel make a successful transition.

After leaving Moguls, she landed in a new sport with a completely different attitude and setup in terms of training.

She recalls, “It was quite an experience to switch from a background where you have five coaches, five guys telling you what to do every single day, having strict plans and people booking your flights, your staff, your training camps… your life is already set out and you just have to show up. That was my life for 15 years.

“Suddenly, I’m on my own doing all the research and finding myself a coach. I’m like, ‘OK, what can I do to make this thing happen. I need to keep the stuff that was working for me in my other life, which was having a team behind me.’ So having a coach was really something that I was craving."

Making the transition

A trip to New Zealand confirmed that Dufour-Lapointe “needed someone to teach” her. Enter Stefan Häusl, a former Freeride World Tour event winner from Austria.

“From the first day onwards, I realised and I think she realised too, that we can really work together very well,” recalls Häusl. “I also realised straight away that, coming from the Moguls circuit, she's a totally coachable athlete. You say something to her, she's doing it. It's not that I'm controlling her, it's that we work together on the next step and she does it.

“She learned very fast, and we worked a lot into all the details because she didn’t have much knowledge about Freeride, but she had all the tools in her bag.”

“This guy was the exact balance of what I was looking for,” says Dufour-Lapointe. “A coach that is rigid, that has a plan - what I'm used to in Moguls - but also has this very connected way of thinking like Freeride. He has so much experience.

“He loves the mountain but he's really strategic and we just had the same way of thinking. It was just really, really fun to meet someone that has so much love for skiing. And he brought me into this world of Freeride with open arms.

“At first, I felt like I was just pretending to be a Freerider but he was like, ‘No, you’re doing it. You’re a Freerider.’ And it was just so cool to be welcomed in this way.”

“I was scared I wasn’t really a fit for the Freeride crew, but then I think they saw initially that I was there to have fun and to learn, not change the sport.”

One major difference between Moguls and Freeride is the danger aspect. In Freeride, there are a myriad of hazards ranging from the steepness of the slope to rocks and sluff (mini avalanches). But for Dufour-Lapointe, there was an element of blissful ignorance.

“Honestly, at first, I think I had no clue,” she admits. “I think I had no clue because you don't know what you don't know! But the more I got to understand, the more I got to learn about the mountain, I was like, ‘OK, now I see it.’

“I think being in a gnarly freestyle sport, you're just numb to certain things at some point. And then when I got to learn even more about the Freeride aspect and avalanches, I was like, ’Dammit, OK, this is real?’

“It made me realize that the most important thing is that I’m being strategic and not going beyond manageable risk. I’m doing things that I know I can do 99% of the time, and I’m not going for something that I’m unsure of.

“My strategy with my coach was we're not going to aim for something that is impossible. Because it's already crazy, this thing, and I'm not gambling even more. I think my family and friends back home were way more stressed than I was!

“It takes years to understand the avalanche, the mountain, the snow condition, the pack, and it’s just such another world. That’s why I think my strategy to have people around me was really the smartest move to make this transition happen.”

Freeride World Tour 2023 success

In December 2022, Dufour-Lapointe earned a wildcard for the Freeride World Tour (FWT) after finishing fourth in September’s North Face Frontier near Queenstown, New Zealand. With Häusl and long-time coaches Paul Gagné and Jean-Paul Richard from her Moguls days, she prepared for her first FWT campaign.

“I had no expectation in a way,” she recounts. “I just didn't want to put myself any pressure. And I think my mindset was just like, ‘I'm here to live what I have to live here. I'm here to enjoy, to learn as much as possible. And, yeah, to have a great time out here.’ And it was just so light as a goal that gave me, I think, the space to actually perform.

“Of course, I really was working hard, and having conversations every day, and having fun, and really studying my lines and all those things behind the scenes. But I think my heart was in the right place. And every chance that I got to show up on that starting gate, I was giving my 100%.

“And I was like, ‘OK, I learned from that competition that I need to do it better this way. OK, perfect.’ And I think I was just adapting myself and adjusting so well. And I think that's mostly what Stefan would say. I'm really an athlete that is capable of adapting and learning because actually Freeride is a lot about that. It's changing every second, every run.

“The snow can change, the wind, the sun, so many details. And you have to be adaptable and be aware that you may have to switch line at the last second. And that was something I was willing to do because I was so open-minded about it. I was not making it more complicated than it is and I think that was key.

“I was on the phone at the starting gate often with Stefan because he was watching and doing the coaching for me. He’d be like, ‘OK, I think we have to switch to Plan B.’ And I was like, ‘Perfect. I'm trusting you.’ And I think that was for sure our strength that year - and even last year - always being ready to improve and to stay open in those situations.

“And because I have so much to learn from everybody, I think that gave me the room to not have any ego and just being there to give my best. And that was my best version. Freeride is a completely different sport and I would never have done that in my previous career in Moguls. But there I was, like, ‘You know what? This is the way to go here.’”

After a sixth place on debut at the Baqueira Beret Pro (AND), she went to nearby Ordino Arcalis and scored her first win in less-than-optimum conditions. “I remember the snow was really slushy and sticky, and not really powdery,” she says. “I’m used to that because I grew up on icy slopes in Montreal with terrible snow.

“I think my Moguls skills, where you have to have quick feet, just made me look really strong on my skis that day. It was actually harder for me in powder because I didn’t know much about skiing in it!”

Fourth place on home snow at Kicking Horse (CAN) boosted her title hopes, and she went to the top of the standings with second in the Fieberbrunn Pro (AUT). When the final round at Verbier (SUI) was cancelled due to dangerous conditions, Dufour-Lapointe was crowned FWT champion at the first attempt.

Despite the obvious stress of starting out in a completely new discipline, Dufour-Lapointe believes her experience of three Olympic Games helped her shut out the noise.

“Having an Olympic medal, after qualifying and giving your best at the right moment, is something that not many people have done in their life,” she said. “And that’s why I was able to do Freeride without breaking under the pressure because I’ve seen way worse.

“My perspective was so different which made me see all the positives. Like, ‘Oh my God, what an opportunity to ski such a great mountain today.’ It was way more about gratitude and fun than seeing anything negative.”

Dealing with tragedy before reclaiming her crown

As the defending series champion, expectations were high for the 2024 campaign. But Dufour-Lapointe soon knew that competition would have to take a back seat.

“My mom was diagnosed with cancer in 2018,” she revealed. “And in the years of treatment, remission and return, I was capable of skiing. And then I wasn’t. I did my first comp, and then I got back home to Kicking Horse realising it was now or never as Mom only had a few months left.

“It was hard to pull the plug because it was like understanding that it was real, realising that it was the truth. It was so real that my mom was not going to be there forever, and it was a tough decision. But I think it was the best decision of my life to have the opportunity to be by her side and be with her the last few days that she had.

“I haven't really mentioned it because... it was just a lot happening in once. I just unplugged myself from everything to be present with my mom. She was just such an important part of my support system for so many years, and I had to be there for her just as she was for my whole career.”

Dufour-Lapointe’s mother passed away on March 21st 2024. And her youngest daughter was determined to come back the following year.

“I knew I still wanted to ski and so I approached 2025 with a different mindset again,” she said. “I was grieving and in a lot of pain from what happened so I was putting even less pressure on myself. I was just happy to be skiing.

“I remember my first competition back and not receiving a text from my mom saying, ‘Good luck, baby. I’m watching you.’ It was such an intense day with my mom not there to support me anymore. And it was really hard but I had to get through it.

“Every day I was showing up and crying and feeling my mom by my side during that season. I know she wasn’t there anymore, but she was there in a different kind of way. At every start, I was talking to her and I could hear that voice and… it was such an experience itself being back in starting gate and this new situation which made me just like connected in the moment.

“She always told me just to make sure I'm not doing crazy things. And I still take every single turn knowing that I'm purposely and intentionally doing it because I know I can, and not jumping something crazy. So that's kind of my only wish, that I know my mum wanted me to be a smart girl out there and that's what makes me even closer to her somehow.”

Incredibly, the 2023 champion returned to FWT action with victory in Baqueira Beret before taking second place at Val Thorens (FRA). With athletes able to drop their two worst scores in the six-stop series, a fourth place at Kicking Horse and 10th in the Georgia Pro (GEO) did not matter in the final analysis. And third in Fieberbrunn and a runner-up finish in Verbier saw Dufour-Lapointe regain her title.

“I was just doing the best I could event single day, training and competing, and even more open to what would be, and not judging myself. My coach was really aligned with me and really supporting me through it.”

Bidding for more history

There are six scheduled events on the 2026 FWT, plus the first FIS Freeride World Championships. These will be held at Ordino Arcalis, where Dufour-Lapointe scored her maiden FWT victory. With powder snow a rarity, it is a venue which should be perfect for the 31-year-old Canadian.

“That’s what I’m going to say to myself, for sure,” she states. “Some of the other Freeriders grew up in the Alps and are used to going hard and enjoying themselves on powder days, whereas I grew up doing icy moguls and landing on icy pack with rocks

“My perspective on snow is completely different and the more I do powder, the more I love it. But I’ll always naturally be more comfortable in icy mogul conditions.”

As someone with previous World Championship and Olympic experience, Dufour-Lapointe is well-versed in how to handle the occasion. And she intends to treat it “just the same” as any other competition.

“You just have to show up and prepare as normal, and be aware that there will be more noise and more people watching you,” she says. ”But you need to focus on what you need to focus on, and it’s just another day skiing.

“Every day is a new day to learn and to grow and to be a better Freerider. And that’s the beauty of Freeride - the one who best manages their skiing, their line, their attitude, and their mindset on the day, wins.”

And as in her previous season, Dufour-Lapointe will be seeking some help from a unique source. “I think my mom will be with me every time I’m dropping in,” she says. “She was my number one fan and supported me throughout my career.

“And it’s so crazy when you’re up there with the stress, the nerves and the wind. You’re like, ‘OK, I really need some courage here.’ I think I will always call my mum for some help out there because it's so intense and I think she really likes it when we're up there, like she thinks that she can see the world the way I see it and I think she would be proud and really excited.

“You’re connected to nature in the most beautiful landscape of your life and this is my life. No one can understand how crazy it is to be on a starting gate, but then I know my mom is there in my heart, and it makes me so happy to share that aspect of my life with her.”