The 3 Dufour-Lapointe Sisters | 3SDL - Justine, Chloé and Maxime Dufour-Lapointe at Sochi Winter Olympic Games 2014 - Discover & Share

Sochi 2014: Dufour-Lapointe sisters looking to dominate moguls hill

In the women's moguls competition, 10 per cent of the Olympic field will come from one Canadian family.

Deciding who would be on Canada’s moguls team turned out to be so drama-filled, a Hollywood movie could be made of it.

Could three sisters in one event really live their Olympic dream together in Sochi?

It turns out they can if they’re named Justine, Chloe and Maxime Dufour-Lapointe.

If that weren’t enough, on the men’s side, Philippe Marquis was told he’d missed making the team by a single placing. Then, after three days of mourning the end of his Olympic dream, he was told that he’d made it after all.

“Having one kid in the Olympics is extraordinary; to have three is incredible,” said Johane Dufour, of her daughters.

With the D-Ls, as they’re called, making up 10 per cent of the entire women’s moguls field — and, potentially, half the super final — a Canadian medal seem pretty much assured.

“It will be an awesome result if there’s one, two or three medals in the house,” said mom. “But it doesn’t matter for us. They will, for the rest of their lives, be three Olympians and that’s the most important thing.”

Dufour and her husband Yves Lapointe didn’t set out to create three world-class moguls skiers.

They both enjoyed skiing in the Laurentians, north of their home in Montreal, and each daughter was in lessons by the age of 3. But skiing was really just a way to make winter go by faster.

This was a boating family. In the summers, Lapointe would rush home from work on Fridays so they could sail for the weekend.

Maxime, the eldest at 24, changed all that when she started competing in moguls at 10. Her two sisters, seeing the fun she was having, followed in her footsteps.

Until very recently, it looked like her two younger sisters, 19-year-old Justine and 22-year-old Chloe, who had always had more competitive success, would make it to the Olympics.

Justine sits second only to American Olympic gold medallist Hannah Kearney in the World Cup rankings. Chloe — who surprised everyone when she came fifth in Vancouver as an 18-year-old — sits third.

But to make it a trio in Sochi, Maxime would need results she had never had in all her years on the World Cup circuit.

Everyone hoped for it, but few thought it was really possible.

She was always “a super hard worker” but just a step below the top on Canada’s highly competitive team, said David Mirota, the freestyle ski team’s high performance director.

“There was a click in my mind at the end of last season. … I was excited to show it to the world and then it happened,” Maxime said of her podium and super-final results this season.

Maxime goes to Sochi sitting fifth, her highest World Cup ranking ever.

“I could see in her eyes that she wasn’t going to let these Games pass by her,” Chloe said, of her sister this season.

“It’s really good to go back to the Olympics. And to be there with my two sisters, that’s going to change everything. It’s amazing.”

Two years ago, Justine was “all speed and really raw,” said her coach Marc-Andre Moreau.

Now, in this all-important Olympic year, the 19-year-old has developed her jumps and turns to become a complete moguls skier who, if everything goes well, can compete with Kearney, he said.

“I started the season really strong, five podiums and two wins. It’s one of my best years compared to Hannah,” Justine said.

“I know she’ll pull out something good but I just want to do something even better and faster and jump higher. She’s beatable. I’ve done it a couple times.”

In total, Canada has four athletes in both the men’s and women’s moguls, with Audrey Robichaud being the only non-D-L on the women’s team.

On the men’s side, defending Vancouver gold medallist Alex Bilodeau goes to Sochi ranked first, with reigning world champion Mikael Kingsbury just behind him in second. Marc-Antoine Gagnon is seventh and Marquis is 12th.

http://www.thestar.com/sports/sochi2014/2014/01/28/sochi_2014_dufourlapointe_sisters_looking_to_dominate_moguls_hill.html