Jason Lamy-Chappuis (born September 9, 1986) is a Franco-American former

ski jumper Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the fina ...

and

cross-country skier Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing where skiers rely on their own locomotion to move across snow-covered terrain, rather than using ski lifts or other forms of assistance. Cross-country skiing is widely practiced as a sport and recreation ...

who has represented France in Nordic combined ski events between 2002 and 2015, then in the 2017-18 season. Born in the United States, where he first began competing in skiing events, Chappuis moved with his family to France as a child. Prior to the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

, he had seen success in a number of international competitions, including World Cup events. He won the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

in the 10km individual normal hill at the 2010 Winter Olympics in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

, British Columbia, Canada after passing race leader

Johnny Spillane Johnny Spillane (born November 24, 1980) is an American athlete who competes in Nordic combined, a combination event consisting of ski jumping and cross-country skiing. Spillane is a world champion and three-time Olympic silver medalist. He ann ...

in a dramatic sprint at the finish line. His final time was only .4 seconds faster than Spillane's, the closest finish in a Nordic combined race in Olympic history. Lamy-Chappuis, five times world champion and three times in a row winner of the overall classification of the Nordic Combined World Cup (2010, 2011, 2012) and also, winner of the sprint discipline in 2007, is a member of the ''Bois d'Amont'' ski club in the French department of Jura. He works for the French border patrol in addition to pursuing his athletic career. He returned in World Cup competitions on 24 November 2017, in Ruka, Finland.

Personal life

Born to a French father and an American mother in

Missoula Missoula ( ; fla, label=Salish language, Séliš, Nłʔay, lit=Place of the Small Bull Trout, script=Latn; kut, Tuhuⱡnana, script=Latn) is a city in the U.S. state of Montana; it is the county seat of Missoula County, Montana, Missoula Cou ...

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

, Lamy-Chappuis lived in the United States until he was 5, living mainly at Copper Mountain,

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

. He participated in his first ski racing events at

Club Med Club Med SAS, commonly known as Club Med and previously known as Club Méditerranée SA, is a French travel and tourism operator headquartered in Paris, specializing in all-inclusive holidays. Founded in 1950, the company has been primarily o ...

in Copper Mountain,

as a child. In 1991, at the age of five, he moved to the small village of

Bois-d'Amont Bois-d'Amont () is a commune in the Jura department in Bourgogne-Franche-Comté in eastern France. Population See also *Communes of the Jura department The following is a list of the 494 communes of the Jura department of France. The ...

in eastern France with his parents. There, he attended school and began more intensive training, but continued to race for

NASTAR NASTAR (an acronym for NAtional STAndard Race) is the world's largest known recreational ski and snowboard race program. It allows ski or snowboard racers of all ages and abilities, through a handicap system, a way to compare themselves with one ano ...

, the American racing program, that year. Lamy-Chappuis still has many family members in the United States, many of whom traveled to Vancouver to cheer for him in the 2010 Olympics. He also maintains close ties to the American ski team, resulting in U.S. coach Dave Jarrett suggesting jokingly that Lamy-Chappuis switch back to his American citizenship to compete for them. Before flying to Vancouver for the 2010 Olympics, he attended a pre-Olympic training camp in

Park City Park City may refer to: a city in Utah. Places * National Park City, London, England, UK; see parks and open spaces in London in the United States * Park City, Illinois * Park City, Kansas * Park City, Kentucky * Park City, Montana * Park City, ...

Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...

with the Americans. An avid flying enthusiast, Lamy-Chappuis started taking flying lessons at the age of 18, so far logging 70 flight hours. His website reflects his passion for flying and is designed to look like a

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a Pilot in command, pilot controls the aircraft. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the ...

. He has stated that he plans to focus on receiving his

pilot's license Pilot licensing or certification refers to permits for operating aircraft. Flight crew licences are regulated by ICAO Annex 1 and issued by the civil aviation authority of each country. CAA’s have to establish that the holder has met a specifi ...

following the 2009–2010 season. In addition to skiing, Lamy-Chappuis works as a French

border patrol A border guard of a country is a national security agency that performs border security. Some of the national border guard agencies also perform coast guard (as in Germany, Italy or Ukraine) and rescue service duties. Name and uniform In dif ...

officer. His nickname is "''Jèz''." Jason Lamy-Chappuis announced February 28, 2015, after winning his fifth world title in the team sprint with Francois Braud Falun he decided to take his retirement at the end of the 2014-2015 season to concentrate on his training airline pilot.

Athletic career

Lamy-Chappuis' first ski jumping competition was in

Les Rousses Les Rousses () is a commune in the Canton of Hauts de Bienne of Jura department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France, on the Swiss border. The Lac des Rousses is located northeast of the village of Les Rousses beside the r ...

, France in 1991. Even though it was his first competition, he left as the winner. Since he had won cross-country competitions in the U.S. and ski jumping contests in France, he decided to continue pursuing both events through the Nordic combined. After establishing himself as a top regional skier in France, Lamy-Chappuis competed in his first international event in a European Cup Games competition in

Planica Planica () is an Alpine valley in northwestern Slovenia, extending south from the border village of Rateče, not far from another well-known ski resort, Kranjska Gora. Further south, the valley extends into the Tamar Valley, a popular hiking d ...

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

during the 1999–2000 season. In 2001–2002, he debuted on the French national junior team, leading to appearances in major competitions in Norway, Sweden,

, Italy,

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, and Germany during his teenage years. Although he was routinely ranked among the top competitors on the circuit, Lamy-Chappuis has said that "I don't feel like I ever performed to my full potential on the World Cup circuit." He participated in his World Cup event in 2004 in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

, Norway. In 2006, Lamy-Chappuis became the French champion of the

Nordic combined Nordic combined is a winter sport in which athletes compete in cross-country skiing (sport), cross-country skiing and ski jumping. The Nordic combined at the Winter Olympics has been held since the first ever 1924 Winter Olympics, Winter Olympic ...

and won two World Cup events, at

Kuusamo Kuusamo ( sme, Guossán; smn, Kuáccám) is a town and municipality in Finland. It is located in the Northern Ostrobothnia region. The municipality has a population of () and covers an area of of which is water. The population density is . T ...

and

Sapporo ( ain, サッ・ポロ・ペッ, Satporopet, lit=Dry, Great River) is a city in Japan. It is the largest city north of Tokyo and the largest city on Hokkaido, the northernmost main island of the country. It ranks as the fifth most populous city ...

. He made his

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

debut at the

2006 Winter Olympics The 2006 Winter Olympics, officially the XX Olympic Winter Games ( it, XX Giochi olimpici invernali) and also known as Torino 2006, were a winter multi-sport event held from 10 to 26 February 2006 in Turin, Italy. This marked the second t ...

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

, Italy, placing 11th in the Nordic combined, 4th in the sprint, and 5th in the team event. His fourth-place finish in the sprint left him less than 15 seconds short of the bronze medal finish time, inspiring him to train harder to avoid such disappointment in the future. In the 2006-07, Lamy-Chappuis won the World Cup overall sprint ranking and finished second in the general ranking. Lamy-Chappuis participated in and won the 7.5 km sprint event at the 2007

Holmenkollen ski festival The Holmenkollen Ski Festival ( no, Holmenkollen skifestival or ) is a traditional annual Nordic skiing event in Holmenkollen, Oslo, Norway. The full official name of the event is Holmenkollen FIS World Cup Nordic. History It takes place in March ...

. He also won the French national championships that year, a feat he repeated in 2007–2008. In 2009, Lamy-Chappuis won two bronze medals at the

FIS Nordic World Ski Championships The FIS Nordic World Ski Championships is a biennial nordic skiing event organized by the International Ski Federation (FIS). The World Championships was started in 1925 for men and opened for women's participation in 1954. World Championship e ...

Liberec Liberec (; german: Reichenberg ) is a city in the Czech Republic. It has about 103,000 inhabitants and it is the fifth-largest city in the country. It lies on the Lusatian Neisse, in a basin surrounded by mountains. The city centre is well preser ...

, in the 10 km individual large-hill and 10 km mass-start events.

Olympic Gold Medal

With five wins and nine podiums, Lamy-Chappuis entered the

, British Columbia, Canada as the World Cup leader in Nordic combined. On Sunday, February 14, Lamy-Chappuis won the Olympic gold medal in the 10km individual normal hill. His winning time was 25:47.1 and came after a frantic finish that involved a last-minute push on his part to beat American

by .4 seconds. Spillane held the lead until Lamy-Chappuis' final sprint at the finish line eked out the win. It was the closest finish in Olympic Nordic combined history. Earlier in the day, he had finished fifth in the ski jump portion of the competition, one spot behind Spillane. Lamy-Chappuis said after the race that he "honestly didn't think ecould get the gold medal" after seeing Spillane's lead following the last hill. He attributed his win to Spillane's decision to slow down while entering the stadium, leaving Lamy-Chappuis with the opportunity to glide faster in the final stretch. The win made Lamy-Chappuis France's second gold medalist of the 2010 Winter Olympics, following

Vincent Jay Vincent Jay (born 18 May 1985) is a former French biathlete and non-commissioned officer. During his career, he won two Olympic medals at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver - a gold in the sprint and a bronze medal in the pursuit. He was t ...

's gold medal earlier in the day in the men's 10 km

biathlon The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not tim ...

sprint. Lamy-Chappuis told the American media that he felt significant pressure from the French media to win the gold medal due to his World Cup success and the belief in the French media that he was "the best chance of a medal for France."

After 2010

Lamy-Chappuis qualified for the

2014 Winter Olympics , ''Zharkie. Zimnie. Tvoi'') , nations = 88 , events = 98 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , athletes = 2,873 , opening = 7 February 2014 , closing = 23 February 2014 , opened_by = President Vladimir Putin , cauldron = , stadium = Fisht Olympic ...

but finished far from the podium. In May 2017, he said that he goes out of the retirement and starts preparing for the

2018 Winter Olympics , nations = 93 , athletes = 2,922 (1,680 men and 1,242 women) , events = 102 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = , closing = , opened_by = President Moon Jae-in , cauldron = Kim Yun-a , stadium = Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium , winte ...

. Lamy-Chappuis indeed qualified for the Olympics for both individual and team events, however, he was not considered a medal contender in individual events and hoped to medal, together with the French team, in the team competition.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lamy-Chappuis, Jason 1986 births Nordic combined skiers at the 2006 Winter Olympics Nordic combined skiers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Nordic combined skiers at the 2014 Winter Olympics Nordic combined skiers at the 2018 Winter Olympics French male Nordic combined skiers Olympic Nordic combined skiers for France Olympic gold medalists for France American people of French descent French people of American descent Holmenkollen Ski Festival winners Living people Sportspeople from Missoula, Montana Olympic medalists in Nordic combined FIS Nordic World Ski Championships medalists in Nordic combined Medalists at the 2010 Winter Olympics Commercial aviators