Pierre Vaultier (born 24 June 1987) is a French two-time Olympic Gold Champion, and one-time World Gold Champion

snowboard Snowboards are boards where the user places both feet, usually secured, to the same board. The board itself is wider than most skis, with the ability to glide on snow."snowboarding." Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 17 Mar ...

er, specializing in

snowboard cross Snowboard cross, also known as boardercross, is a snowboard competition in which four to six competitors race down a course. Snowboard cross courses are typically quite narrow and include cambered turns, various types of jumps, berms, rollers, ...

Career

Vaultier started snowboarding at the age of six at Serre Chevalier, one of the major French ski resorts located in the southern part of the Alps. 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 Puy-Saint-Vincent (; oc, Puei Sant Vincent) is a commune in the Hautes-Alpes department in southeastern France. Population See also *Communes of the Hautes-Alpes department The following is a list of the 162 communes of the Hautes-Alpes de ...

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 t ...

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 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. On 13 December 2008 he slipped during training at Serre Chevalier and suffered a

lumbar In tetrapod anatomy, lumbar is an adjective that means ''of or pertaining to the abdominal segment of the torso, between the diaphragm and the sacrum.'' The lumbar region is sometimes referred to as the lower spine, or as an area of the back i ...

fracture Fracture is the separation of an object or material into two or more pieces under the action of stress. The fracture of a solid usually occurs due to the development of certain displacement discontinuity surfaces within the solid. If a displa ...

. After undergoing surgery in Grenoble, he missed the majority of the season but was the leader in following World Cup in

Chapelco Chapelco, or Cerro Chapelco, is a mountain and massif in Neuquén Province, south-western Argentina. The ski station of the same name is located from the resort town of San Martín de los Andes. Designed by Federico Graeff and established in 19 ...

, Argentina.

2010: return and climb

After the 2009 season marked by his injury, Vaultier began the World Cup 2010 at Chapelco with a victory before Seth Wescott. 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 ...

and in Quebec at Stoneham, as well as a second place at Bad Gastein. 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 Gretz ...

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

2014: Sochi

Two months after tearing his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), Vaultier won the gold medal in the snowboard cross at 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 ...

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Со́чи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg) is the largest resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi River, along the Black Sea in Southern Russia, with a population of 466,078 residents, up to 600,000 residents in ...

2018: Pyeongchang

After surviving a crash in the semifinals of 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 ...

Pyeongchang Pyeongchang (; in full, ''Pyeongchang-gun'' ; ) is a county in the province of Gangwon-do, South Korea, located in the Taebaek Mountains region. It is home to several Buddhist temples, including Woljeongsa. It is about east southeast of Seou ...

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