Émile Allais (25 February 1912 – 17 October 2012) was a champion alpine ski racer from

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

; he won all three events at the 1937

world championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Chamonix Chamonix-Mont-Blanc ( frp, Chamôni), more commonly known as Chamonix, is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of southeastern France. It was the site of the first Winter Olympics in 1924. In 2019, it had ...

and the gold in the combined in 1938. Born in

Megève Megève (; frp, Megéva) is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Southeastern France with a population of more than 3,000 residents. The town is well known as a ski resort near Mont Blanc in the French ...

, he was a dominant racer in the late 1930s and is considered to have been the first great French alpine skier. Allais won the bronze medal in the combined (

downhill Downhill may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Downhill'' (1927 film), a British film by Alfred Hitchcock * ''Downhill'' (2014 film), a British comedy directed by James Rouse * ''Downhill'' (2016 film), a Chilean thriller directed by Patrici ...

and

slalom To slalom is to zigzag between obstacles. It may refer to: Sports ;Alpine skiing and/or snowboarding * Slalom skiing, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline * Giant slalom, an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline * Super-G ...

), the only alpine medal event at the

1936 Winter Olympics The 1936 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IV Olympic Winter Games (german: IV. Olympische Winterspiele) and commonly known as Garmisch-Partenkirchen 1936 ( bar, Garmasch-Partakurch 1936), were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 16 ...

Garmisch Garmisch-Partenkirchen (; Bavarian: ''Garmasch-Partakurch''), nicknamed Ga-Pa, is an Alpine ski town in Bavaria, southern Germany. It is the seat of government of the district of Garmisch-Partenkirchen (abbreviated ''GAP''), in the O ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. These Olympics were the first to award medals in alpine skiing. The previous year, he had won the silver medal in the downhill and combined at the 1935

. In 1937 he was a triple

world champion A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

, France, winning all three events (downhill, slalom, and combined). The following year at

Engelberg , neighboring_municipalities = Attinghausen (UR), Gadmen (BE), Innertkirchen (BE), Isenthal (UR), Wassen (UR), Wolfenschiessen (NW) , twintowns= Engelberg (lit.: ''mountain of angel(s)'') is a village resort and a municipality in the canton ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

, he won the combined, and took silver in the downhill and slalom. He created the ''École Française de Ski'' which taught innovative methods of

Anton Seelos Anton "Toni" Seelos (4 March 1911 – 1 June 2006) was an Austrian alpine skier and world champion. In the 1930s, Seelos invented the parallel turnNick Howe''The Blitz Form Kitz'' Skiing Heritage 1/1997 p.17. and became a world champion in the s ...

(who was his trainer and instructor), characterised by parallel turns, controlling the speed by sideslipping, and turning by ''ruade'' ('' French'': kick, back kick), i.e. kicking the backs of the skis up and pivoting on the tips while rotating the body in the direction of the turn. The ''École du Ski Français'' (ESF) is now the biggest

Ski school A ski school is an establishment that teaches skiing, typically in a ski resort. The modern version of the ski school was invented by the Austrian ski pioneer Hannes Schneider in the early 1920s when he formalized instruction methods and establi ...

in the world in terms of numbers of ski teachers, and is present in every single French ski resort, and even abroad. After a spell in

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and

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( Squaw Valley,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and

Portillo, Chile Portillo is a ski resort in South America, located in the Andes mountains of Chile. In the Valparaíso Region, it is from Los Andes, the nearest city, and by vehicle from Santiago. Its hotel sits at an elevation of above sea level, and the hig ...

) Allais held the post of technical director at

Courchevel Courchevel () is a French Alps ski resort. It is a part of Les Trois Vallées, the largest linked ski areas in the world. Courchevel also refers to the towns of Courchevel 1300 (Le Praz), Courchevel 1550, Courchevel 1650 (Moriond), and Courc ...

from 1954 to 1964, where he introduced many ideas from the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

regarding slope preparation and piste security. He later worked as a technical consultant for other resorts, notably

La Plagne La Plagne () is a French ski area in the alpine valley of the Tarentaise (Savoie). Since 2003, La Plagne and the neighbouring resort of Les Arcs form Paradiski's ski area. It is currently owned by Compagnie des Alpes. In 2014, La Plagne was ...

and

Flaine Flaine is a ski area in the Haute Savoie region of the French Alps, and is a part of the linked Grand Massif domain. It is in the territory of the communes of Magland and Arâches-la-Frasse. Flaine is linked to Samoëns, Morillon, Les Carroz a ...

. One of the Saulire

couloir A ''couloir'' (, "passage" or "corridor") is a narrow gully with a steep gradient in a mountainous terrain.Whittow, John (1984). ''Dictionary of Physical Geography''. London: Penguin, p. 121. . Geology A couloir may be a seam, scar, or fissu ...

s at Courchevel is named after Allais. As a consultant to

Skis Rossignol Skis Rossignol S.A., or simply Rossignol, is a French manufacturer of alpine, snowboard, and Nordic equipment, as well as related outerwear and accessories, located in Isère, France. Rossignol was one of the first companies to produce plastic s ...

, Allais helped to design the laminated-wood Olympic 41 ski (1941), and the first aluminum skis to win major ski races, the Métallais (1959) and Allais 60 (1960). The Olympic 41 later served as the basis of Rossignol's very successful Strato (1964). In December 2005, 93-year-old Allais made the trip to the

French Senate The Senate (french: Sénat, ) is the upper house of the French Parliament, with the lower house being the National Assembly (France), National Assembly, the two houses constituting the legislature of France. The French Senate is made up of 34 ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

where he was honoured, along with a number of other ski instructors. His life has been all about skiing; he learned his skiing early, raced all over

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

, then coached the French Olympic ski team for seven years. Allais fought in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

on skis, and even courted his wife at a ski meet."Allais, aged 94, skis on" from The Age, February 18, 2006
/ref> He turned 100 in February 2012. Allais died after an illness in a hospital in

Sallanches Sallanches (; frp, Salenches) is a commune in the Haute-Savoie department of France. Located close to the Mont Blanc massif, many visitors pass through the town en route to well-known alpine resorts such as Chamonix, Megève and Saint-Gervais-le ...

in the French Alps on 17 October 2012.

References

French ski legend dies
at planetski.eu

External links

*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allais, Emile 1912 births 2012 deaths Alpine skiers at the 1936 Winter Olympics Olympic bronze medalists for France Sportspeople from Haute-Savoie French male alpine skiers Olympic alpine skiers of France Olympic medalists in alpine skiing French centenarians Men centenarians Medalists at the 1936 Winter Olympics French military personnel of World War II