Moguls team seems poised for big Olympic breakthrough

Hopes are high for Canada's Olympic freestyle ski team, but no one's desire will soar higher than those of the moguls team.

Twenty of 26 spots were named Monday for the freestyle team that will compete at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The ski cross competitors will be announced next Monday, along with the alpine team.

Headlining the moguls group will be Alexandre Bilodeau, who won gold at the Vancouver-Whistler Games, becoming the first Canadian to do so on home soil. Bilodeau, who won at the World Cup event in Val St. Come, Que., this past weekend, has been challenged on the World Cup circuit this season by Mikael Kingsbury, who was also named to the team. Bilodeau and Kingsbury are first and second this season in the World Cup standing and will most likely challenge each other for Olympic gold.

Of the four members on the women’s moguls team, three are from the same family. The Dufour-Lapointe sisters — Maxime, Chloe and Justine, ranging from oldest to youngest — made the team. Each sister has won at least one medal in World Cup action this year, raising the possibility of a podium in Sochi that comprises a family reunion. Chloe and Justine were first and second at the World Cup stop this past weekend.

Canada has won gold in the moguls at each of the past two Winter Olympics. Besides Bilodeau in 2010, Jenn Heil won gold in 2006. There was no gold for Canada in 2002 but eight top-10 finishes, that included a silver and a bronze.