Julie Madelein Josephine Parisien (born August 2, 1971) is a former

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 ...

alpine ski racer from the

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. She specialized in the technical events of slalom and giant slalom. Parisien was the silver medalist in the slalom at the

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, ...

1993 File:1993 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Oslo I Accord is signed in an attempt to resolve the Israeli–Palestinian conflict; The Russian White House is shelled during the 1993 Russian constitutional crisis; Czechoslovakia is peacefu ...

and competed in three Olympics. Born in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

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 ...

, Canada, Parisien's mother was born in Australia and her father, an orthopedic surgeon, in Canada. The family moved from

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...

when Julie was less than a year old. She and her three siblings were raised just outside Auburn, about a mile (1.6 km) from the Lost Valley Ski Area. On skis at age two, she followed her two older brothers and attended the

Burke Mountain Academy Burke Mountain Academy is a full-year private college-preparatory school in the Northeastern United States, northeastern United States, located in East Burke, Vermont. It educates and trains alpine ski racing athletes on the slopes of adjacent Bu ...

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Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

. Her siblings Rob (b.1970) and Anne-Lise (b.1972) also competed at the Olympics in alpine skiing. The eldest brother, Jean Paul (1968–92), captained the

Williams College Williams College is a private liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a colonist from the Province of Massachusetts Bay who was kill ...

ski team and coached at Burke Mountain Academy. He was killed in a

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highway accident in December 1992, forced off the road by a

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. Parisien had won her third World Cup race in late November 1992 at

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, and in the first two slalom events in January

she placed fourth and sixth. She then won the silver medal in the slalom at the

in Japan. But the loss of her brother affected her and she struggled in the

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nelson ...

season. After a disappointing

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, Parisien left the

U.S. Ski Team The U.S. Ski Team, operating under the auspices of U.S. Ski & Snowboard, develops and supports men's and women's athletes in the sports of alpine skiing, freestyle skiing, cross-country, ski jumping, and Nordic combined. Since 1974 the team and ...

and competed on the women's pro tour in North America. She was rookie of the year in 1995 and finished second in the standings. Parisien dominated the pro tour next two years, then qualified for the 1998 Olympics, and finished 13th in the slalom at Nagano. At her first Olympics in 1992 in France, she held a slim lead after the first run in the slalom but finished fourth, missing a medal by 0.05 seconds. After summer glacier training with the U.S. Ski Team in Europe, Parisien decided it was time to retire from competition in the fall She was inducted into the Maine Sports Hall of Fame in 2001 and the

National Ski Hall of Fame The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame and Museum is located in Ishpeming, Michigan, the birthplace of organized skiing in the United States. Located in the state's Upper Peninsula, the building includes the hall of fame and museum, as well as a t ...

After finishing her career in competitive skiing, Parisien completed her degree in nursing. She graduated from the

University of Southern Maine The University of Southern Maine (USM) is a public university with campuses in Portland, Gorham and Lewiston in the U.S. state of Maine. It is the southernmost of the University of Maine System. It was founded as two separate state universit ...

in 2003. As of 2023, Parisien resides in Kalispell, Montana where she works in

gastroenterology Gastroenterology (from the Greek gastḗr- “belly”, -énteron “intestine”, and -logía "study of") is the branch of medicine focused on the digestive system and its disorders. The digestive system consists of the gastrointestinal tract ...

World Cup results

Season standings

Race podiums

* 3 wins - (2 SL, 1 GS) * 4 podiums - (3 SL, 1 GS); 15 top tens (9 SL, 6 GS, 1 SG)

World Championship results

Olympic results

References

External links

* * *
U.S. Ski Hall of Fame
– Julie Parisien – inducted 2006 *
Ski Museum of Maine Hall of Fame
– Julie Parisien – inducted 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Parisien, Julie 1971 births Living people American female alpine skiers Olympic alpine skiers for the United States Alpine skiers at the 1992 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 1994 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Skiers from Montreal 21st-century American women