Pierre Vaultier (born 24 June 1987) is a French two-time Olympic Gold Champion, and one-time World Gold Champion snowboarder, specializing in snowboard cross.

Career

Vaultier started snowboarding at the age of six at

Serre Chevalier Serre Chevalier () is a major ski resort in Southeastern France, near the Italian border, located in the Hautes-Alpes department, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated to the northeast of Écrins National Park in the French Alps, the re ...

, one of the major French ski resorts located in the southern part of the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Swi ...

. He debuted competition in 1997. He joined the young French team in 2004 and then the older team one year later. He operated in the "Ecrins Snowboard" club of Puy-Saint-Vincent in 2005. He participated in 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 ...

Turino 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 ...

and at the

X Games The X Games are an annual extreme sports event organized, produced and broadcast by ESPN. Coverage is also shown on ESPN's sister network, ABC. The inaugural X Games were held during the summer of 1995 in Providence and Newport, Rhode Island, ...

in 2007. On 13 March 2008 he won the crystal globe in snowboarding by finishing second in the final round of the

2007–08 FIS Snowboard World Cup The 2007–08 FIS Snowboard World Cup is a multi race tournament over a season for snowboarding. The season began on 1 September 2007, and finished on 3 March 2008. The World Cup is organized by the FIS who also runs world cups and championships in ...

World Cup at

Chiesa in Valmalenco Chiesa in Valmalenco is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Sondrio in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northeast of Milan and about north of Sondrio, on the border with Switzerland. The English for "Chiesa in Valmalenco" is ...

. On 13 December 2008 he slipped during training at Serre Chevalier and suffered a lumbar fracture. After undergoing surgery in

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

, he missed the majority of the season but was the leader in following

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

in Chapelco,

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

2010: return and climb

After the 2009 season marked by his injury, Vaultier began the

World Cup 2010 , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

at Chapelco with a victory before

Seth Wescott Seth Wescott (born June 28, 1976) is an American snowboarder. He is a two-time Olympic champion in the snowboard cross. Life and career Wescott was born in Durham, North Carolina, and lives in Whistler, British Columbia. Growing up, Wescot ...

. Since then he added three more victories to this winter at Telluride,

Veysonnaz Veysonnaz is a municipality in the district of Sion in the Swiss canton of Valais. Geography Veysonnaz has an area, , of . Of this area, or 29.1% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 44.5% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 26 ...

and in

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

at Stoneham, as well as a second place at

Bad Gastein Bad Gastein (; formerly ''Badgastein''; Southern Bavarian: ''Bod Goschdei'') is a spa town in the district of St. Johann im Pongau, in the Austrian state of Salzburg. Picturesquely situated in a high valley of the Hohe Tauern mountain range, it ...

. He was a designated favorite at 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 Gret ...

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 ...

.''Vaultier au sommet''
, lequipe.fr, 22 janvier2010, consulté le 22 janvier 2010.

2014: Sochi

Two months after tearing his

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligament Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint and th ...

(ACL), Vaultier won the gold medal in the snowboard cross at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

2018: Pyeongchang

After surviving a crash in the semifinals of the

2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 Winter Olympics ( ko, 2018년 동계 올림픽, Icheon sip-pal nyeon Donggye Ollimpik), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (french: Les XXIIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver; ko, 제23회 동계 올림픽, Jeisipsamhoe Donggye Ollimpi ...

in Pyeongchang to finish in the third and final qualifying place, Vaultier surged ahead of the pack in the final to win gold. This was his second gold medal in the Olympic snowboard cross.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vaultier, Pierre 1987 births Living people People from Briançon Snowboarders at the 2006 Winter Olympics Snowboarders at the 2010 Winter Olympics Snowboarders at the 2014 Winter Olympics Snowboarders at the 2018 Winter Olympics Olympic snowboarders of France French male snowboarders Olympic gold medalists for France Olympic medalists in snowboarding Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics Medalists at the 2018 Winter Olympics Sportspeople from Hautes-Alpes 21st-century French people