Moguls sisters ready to make Olympic history

As you can see from their shared Twitter and facebook feed, Canadian sisters Maxime, Chloé and Justine Dufour Lapointe – known as “the 3SDL” – are completely inseparable. All three are top-level freestyle skiers, and the fact that they will be competing together in the moguls at Sochi is something that they take in their stride.

But in fact their achievement is remarkable, if not quite unprecedented. The last time three sisters featured at the same edition of the Games was 54 years ago, in Squaw Valley in 1960, when skiers Thérèse, Anne-Marie and Marguerite Leduc all represented France.

Maxime, 24, Chloé, 22, and Justine, 19 were born in Montreal. Their careers have developed under the watchful gaze of their proud mother Johane Dufour, who acts as their manager.

The stage is set for the trio to shine in Sochi, where Justine, the current world number two, Chloé, who is just one place behind her, and Maxime, ranked number five, will all be out to capture the Olympic moguls title from USA’s Hannah Kearney.

A family double in Val St-Come

During the final event in the Moguls World Cup ahead of Sochi, which took place at Val St-Come (CAN) on 19 January 2014, Chloe secured her first victory in the moguls (though she is the reigning world champion in the dual moguls), finishing ahead of Justine to complete a remarkable one-two for the Dufour Lapointe clan.

For her part, Justine managed five podium finishes in six competitions this winter, including victories in Calgary (Canada) on 4 January and then again in Lake Placid (USA) on 15 January.

Meanwhile the oldest sister Maxime took third place in Deer Valley (USA) on 11 January, stepping up to fly the family flag when her two sisters were having a rare off-day.

On 8 Feburary in Khutor, their father Yves Lapointe and mother Johane Dufour will be present to cheer on their three talented daughters in the hope of seeing them realise a long-held dream: a Dufour- Lapointe clean sweep of the podium. It would represent an incredible Olympic first, though their mother admits that even one daughter on the podium would make them proud. “It would be incredible if they can come home with one, two or three medals,” she says. “But for us, that’s not the main thing. They will be Olympians for the rest of their lives, and that is priceless!”