Heil completed her Championships sweep with a duals title. Coming off a win in moguls Wednesday, the 2006 Olympic champion finished her final Worlds by beating teammate Chloe Dufour-Luponte and Hannah Kearney (USA).
“It feels amazing," said Heil. "It’s one of my most famous courses in the world. It’s just a privilege to be in front of this amazing crowd and to ski on such a great course. I couldn’t ask for more."
Dufour-Luponte used a blazing fast semifinal run to defeat World Cup points leader American Hannah Kearney and set up the Canadian final. Kearney went on to beat fellow American Heather McPhie to win bronze. Heil, who announced last week that she will retire at the end of the season, said, “To go against Chloe, who represents the future of our sport, was amazing.”
She added that despite her incredible success here she is not going to reconsider her retirement decision, but said that the showing in Utah has given her confidence about what she is leaving behind. “The team is in such great shape, and that’s not a fluke. It’s pretty exciting the change we’ve created in sport in this country, we’ve invested, targeted and focused on excellence and now we are seeing the results, it shows what we are capable of as a nation.”
Dufour-Lapointe, who was sick with a cold earlier in the week and faltered in the single moguls, was stunned by her silver-medal accomplishment. “I can’t really believe it, I am so proud of myself and so honored to be able to ski against my hero, Jenn Heil.”
Overall, Canada won an impressive eight of 12 gold medals leading the overall count at 16. The USA was second with seven. Chinas was third with three medals. A total of 313 athletes from 36 nations took part in the Championships which ended Saturday.
Women
Gold: Jenn Heil, Canada
Silver: Chloe Dufour-Lapointed, Canada
Bronze: Hannah Kearney, USA
