Moguls sisters get a no, a yes, and a maybe
They captured the imagination of a country four years ago at the Sochi Olympics, these three sisters from Montreal.
Justine and Chloé DufourLapointe held hands as they stepped on the podium, gold and silver medallists, respectively, in freestyle moguls. The eldest of the triumvirate, Maxime, also competed and placed 12th.
Regrettably, history won’t be repeated when the Pyeongchang Winter Games open on Feb. 9. The three siblings will be in South Korea, but only Justine, 23, is guaranteed to compete. Chloé, 26, should also be part of the team that will be named Monday morning at a Montreal press conference, but 28-year-old Maxime must settle for cheering on her sisters from the sideline.
“I’m not disappointed. Soon, another chapter in my life will open,” said Maxime. “My goal for this cycle was to reach my full potential — see how far I could go and how good I could be. I’ve learned so many things in those last four years. I’m a better athlete and person.
“I know I’ve grown the last four years,” added Maxime, who underwent hip surgery in April and hopes to study medicine, not that she ever confirmed retirement was in her immediate future. “Nothing can take that away from me. That makes me feel like a champion nonetheless.”
Justine, who already had qualified for the coming Games, won her first World Cup of the season Saturday on the south side of the Flying Mile run at Mont-Tremblant. Her score of 87.43 gave her a sufficient margin of victory over Canadian teammate Andi Naude of Penticton, B.C., who had 85.35. Naude also has qualified for the Olympics.
Kazakhstan’s Yulia Galysheva was third. Rounding out the super final was American Tess Johnson, Quebec City’s Audrey Robichaud and Chloé Dufour-Lapointe. Maxime failed to qualify for the original 16-person final, placing 27th.
This was the final World Cup event before the Olympics. A maximum of four men and four women can be named to the moguls team, but the International Olympic Committee’s quota system limits Canada to 30 athletes in total from the combined five freestyle ski disciplines.
“We’re a team; we’ll always be,” Maxime said. “It’s within that team that we always find strength. I’ll be there (in Pyeongchang) if they need me for anything.”
If it was a bittersweet day for the family, it encapsulated what had been an emotional week for them. Thursday, during a precompetition news conference, the sisters revealed that Johane, their 57-year-old mother, had been diagnosed with cancer but is now in remission.
The picture might not be complete without the three sisters competing, but it’s something they talked about, knowing it was likely inevitable.
“In our family, we’re so close. We tell each other the real thing,” Chloé stated. “We go as a family, even though (Maxime) won’t be competing. But she’ll be there with us. Maxime is so strong. She always has the right words for us.”