Following Canadian Women Freestyle Skiers to Vancouver

CTV Canada
February 13th, 2010

Heil earns Canada's first medal

CYPRESS MOUNTAIN - When Team Canada gathered in the bowels of B.C. Place Stadium for Friday's opening ceremonies, Jenn Heil lay on a mat back in her hotel room.

As the team marched in and soaked up the adoration of billions of viewers, Heil worked her core. A masseuse later kneaded the 26-year-old to evacuate lactic acid from her muscles. She went to bed early. "I don't feel like we're missing out on something," her coach and boyfriend, Dominick Gauthier said.

That routine, honed to a meticulous degree this season, was Heil's shield against enormous expectations she faced the yesterday to deliver Canada's first gold medal on home turf. In the pressure-cooker of Vancouver, routine ranked above once-in-a-lifetime thrills. "I'm doing everything I can to manage that pressure," she has said repeatedly in interviews.

Saturday night at Cypress Mountain, the pressure may have won. Heil, who entered as the skier to beat wearing Bib No. 1, hit an incredible run in front of a rain-drenched crowd that included Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Former Prime minister Jean Chretien. But it wasn't enough to defeat Hannah Kearney of the United States, who bounced back from bitter disappointment in Turin to deliver the perhaps the best run of her life. Her teammate, Shannon Bahrke, took the bronze.

As the Kearney and Bahrke jumped and waved during the flower ceremony that followed, Heil smiled but looked slightly dazed between the elated Olympic gold and bronze medalists.

"There's no doubt about it I was going for gold," she said later at a press conference. But she added of her fellow teammates at these Olympics: "Canadians can be assured that that gold medal's coming."

Chloe Dufour-Lapointe, 18, hit a killer final run that was enough for fifth place - a thrilling result for a rookie Olympian who came in ranked 12th.

"I did amazing and I'm so happy," she said afterward. "I just take every positive sound and I just gave it my all. And I wanted to make a show for us."

Canadian medal hope Kristi Richards, who overcame a disastrous last season to bounce back onto the World Cup podium twice over this season, qualified for the finals in 4h spot, but she lost control after her first jump and crashed in the final. She got up and carried on down the mountain, rewarding the cheering crowd with a move called a back full - a back flip with a full twist.

After her qualification run, Heil sat in second place behind Kearney and just ahead of McPhie. Kearney - her signature pig-tails poking out of her helmet - had laid down a blistering run that earned her a score of 25.96 from the judges, less than half a point over Heil.

After their qualifying runs, Heil avoided speaking to the media. Her American competitors, by contrast, seemed loose and confident. Heather McPhie - who crashed in the final portion of an otherwise inspired final run -- did a high-knee dance. She and Kearney marched up to waiting reporters smiling and bantering loosely with reporters.

For Kearney, the gold medal was redemption. She arrived as a 19-year-old in Turin in 2006 as the reigning world champion in women's freestyle moguls and a favorite for gold. She left with a bitterly disappointing 22d-place finish, determined to ditch her old routine of training with soccer and running track and take her sport more seriously.

"This as been my goal for the last two years," she said.

Of pressure to succeed, she said: "I'm pretty sure pressure's just a made up thing. There's no such thing as pressure."

As much expectations as Heil faced from her country - from the Birks campaign to Celine Dion's videotaped good luck message and the signs in the crowd blaring Go Jenn GO - she has said she both welcomed it and demanded it from herself. "I love pressure," she has said. "Without that pressure it won't be the Olympics."