Perrine Laffont and as irmãs Dufour-Lapointe

Let’s go back to the past. Until PyeongChang 2018.

That’s when the French freestyle skier turned 19, Perrine Lafontdone for the world of the Olympics.

In his second participation in the Olympics, he surpassed the Canadian skier Justine Dufour Lapointe for the title in the mogul event, with 0.09 points. In Sochi 2014, Justine won gold, outperforming her older sister, Chloe Dufour-Lapointewhile Perrine finished 14th.

In Québec, this mogul family is in awe. The two sisters, who skied for a while with older sister Maxime before retiring in 2018, are used to sharing podiums and titles.

While this rivalry has been revived during the 2021/22 World Cup season and with 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics on the near horizon (February 4-20), Olympics.com presents the story of this exciting freestyle ski bout.

Chloé and Justine made their name

For a moment, Chloé and Justine became sensations in the world of maestros.

Prior to Perrine’s appearance and first podium finish in February 2016, Chloé had been on the podium 15 times with two wins, while Justine, who was introduced to the circuit in December 2010, had 18 podiums, including eight wins.

The big rival back then was Hannah Kearney. The American had won gold at Vancouver 2010 before winning bronze, behind two brothers, at Sochi 2014. She also became world champion in 2013 (first title in 2005) and finished second in 2011 and 2015.

However, after winning six Mogul Crystal Globes and four titles overall, he decided to retire in March 2015, leaving the road to glory open for the Quebec sisters.

Justine and Chloé didn’t take long to take the lead.

After four World Cup rounds between 28 February 2015 (Hannah’s last podium before retiring, first place in Tazawako, Japan) and 27 February 2016 (Perrine’s first podium, also first place in Tazawako), Chloé got four podiums, while Justine got three.

Earlier that year, they were also part of a historic moment: in Val Saint-Come, Canada, Justine and Chloé finished first and second, ahead of their older sister Maxime.

“For us it was like winning the Super Bowl,” Maxime told Olympics.com. “It was absolutely amazing,” added Justine. To be honest, I thought it was one of me show career favourite.”

Turning point: February 27, 2016

However, the relief that Hannah Kearney’s retirement provided the sisters was short-lived. Perrine Laffont can’t wait forever. Prior to claiming his first podium on 27 February 2016, he had finished fourth on two occasions, including the day Canada made history.

On February 27, at just 17 years old, Perrine wasn’t going to give up on her sister Dufour-Lapointe, who was four and seven years her senior. That day, the Frenchwoman, who by then had two years of experience on the senior circuit, won her first gold, in Tazawako, Japan. Chloé finished second and Justine seventh.

Since then, Perrine has rarely missed a podium on the World Cup stage, while Chloé has only been on the podium twice.

…but nothing can stop Perrine

Justine, Chloé’s sister, now 27, goes on to show she is capable of mastering her discipline, but she seems to have suffered from Perrine’s strengths: in the incredible 32 stages of the World Cup since 27 February 2016, in which Justine and Perrine both took part up to the current start, Justine has 13 podiums (two wins) while Perrine, 24 (15 wins).

Of the nine times Perrine has stepped on the podium but not finished on it, she has been surpassed by Britteny Cox of Australia and Kazakh Yulia Galysheva instead of Justine.

And then PyeongChang arrived, along with Perrine’s Olympic title.

Since that Game. At the start of the 2021-2022 season, Perrine had scored 17 World Cup podiums in all 17 appearances, winning 13 titles, including the last nine.

Since then Justine has never finished ahead of Perrine.

So, what will happen in Beijing 2022? Can Justine find her best form again and earn a medal? Or will 23-year-old Perrine – currently the owner of four massive crystal balls – continue this winning streak?

To get the answer to that question, you have to go back and watch it from February 3, 2022, during the Olympic women’s maestro ranking event in Beijing.

Hadwin Floyd

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