Sylvain Dufour (born 19 November 1982 in

Saint-Dié-des-Vosges Saint-Dié-des-Vosges (; german: Sankt Didel), commonly referred to as just Saint-Dié, is a commune in the Vosges department in Grand Est in northeastern France. It is a sub-prefecture of the department. Geography Saint-Dié is located in the ...

) is a French alpine snowboarder. He claimed two silver medals each in giant slalom and slalom at the 2009 FIS Snowboarding World Championships in

Gangwon Gangwon or Kangwŏn may refer to: * Gangwon Province (historical), the Goryeo, Joseon Dynasty and the Japanese Korean province * Gangwon Province (South Korea), a province of South Korea, with its capital at Chuncheon. Before the division of Kore ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, and later represented his nation

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 ...

in two editions of the Olympic Games (2010 and 2014). Dufour currently trains for Ski Club Sainte-Marie-aux-Mines under his personal coach and mentor Christophe Guinamard. Dufour reached international headlines to his sporting career, when he first won two silver medals each behind Canada's

Jasey-Jay Anderson Jasey-Jay Anderson (born 13 April 1975 in Val-Morin, Quebec) is a Canadian snowboarder and Olympic gold medallist, who competed in the 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, Winter Olympics. Anderson currently resides in Mont-Tremblant outside ...

in the men's giant slalom and Austria's

Benjamin Karl Benjamin Martin Karl (born 16 October 1985) is an Austrian professional snowboarder with seven World Cup victories and one FIS World Ski Championships Victory. He competed for his nation in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Parallel Giant Slalom, comi ...

in the men's slalom at the 2009 FIS Snowboarding World Championships, earning him a ticket for the French team 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 ...

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 ...

. In his official Olympic debut, Dufour recorded a second-fastest time of 1:16.79 in the seeding round of the men's giant slalom, but shortened his chances of adding another career medal after finishing behind Slovenia's Rok Flander in a first knockout round by 1.65 seconds. 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 ...

, Dufour qualified as a lone French athlete for two alpine snowboarding events (including the first ever men's parallel slalom) by finishing first from the FIS World Cup series in

Carezza ''Coitus reservatus'' ('' coitus'', "sexual intercourse, union" and ''reservatus'', "reserved, saved"), also known as sexual continence, is a form of sexual intercourse in which the man does not attempt to ejaculate within his partner, but instea ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and in Sudelfeld,

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 ...

. In the men's giant slalom, Dufour could not endure his surprising setback from Vancouver after delivering a fifteenth-fastest total time of 1:39.76 in the seeding run and eventually, finishing beyond a five-second margin behind US-born Russian snowboarder

Vic Wild Victor Ivan "Vic" Wild (russian: Виктор Айван Уайлд; born August 23, 1986) is an American-born Russian snowboarder. Career Wild won a bronze medal in the parallel giant slalom at the 2013 FIS Snowboarding World Championships and ...

in the first round. Three days later, in the men's slalom, Dufour grabbed a tenth-seeded time of 59.43 to compete against Switzerland's

Nevin Galmarini Nevin Galmarini (born 4 December 1986) is a Swiss snowboarder and Olympic Champion. In February 2018, Nevin Galmarini won a gold medal at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea in the Parallel giant slalom. In 2009, he won the Swiss nati ...

, who won the silver in giant slalom earlier, in the first round, but he was later disqualified after missing a gate each in both blue and red course races. Dufour competed in the

Parallel giant slalom Giant slalom (GS) is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline. It involves skiing between sets of poles ("gates") spaced at a greater distance from each other than in slalom but less than in Super-G. Giant slalom and slalom make up the ...

with Nathalie Desmares as a partner in 2018.

References

External links

* * *
Sylvain Dufour at NBC Olympics website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dufour, Sylvain 1982 births Living people French male snowboarders Olympic snowboarders for France Snowboarders at the 2010 Winter Olympics Snowboarders at the 2014 Winter Olympics Snowboarders at the 2018 Winter Olympics People from Saint-Dié-des-Vosges Universiade medalists in snowboarding Sportspeople from Vosges (department) FISU World University Games bronze medalists for France Competitors at the 2007 Winter Universiade 21st-century French people