Mathieu Crépel (born 26 October 1984 in

Tarbes Tarbes (; Gascon language, Gascon: ''Tarba'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of southwestern France. It is ...

Hautes-Pyrénées Hautes-Pyrénées (; Gascon/ Occitan: ''Nauts Pirenèus / Hauts Pirenèus'' awts piɾeˈnɛʊs ; alts piɾiˈneʊs ) is a department in the region of Occitania, southwestern France. The department is bordered by Pyrénées-Atlantiques to t ...

) is a French professional

snowboarder Snowboarding is a recreational and competitive activity that involves descending a snow-covered surface while standing on a snowboard that is almost always attached to a rider's feet. It features in the Winter Olympic Games and Winter Paralympic ...

and World Champion based in

Anglet Anglet (; , )ANGELU
Auñamendi Encyclopedia, Auñamendi Eusko Entziklopedia is a Communes of Fra ...

Northern Basque Country The French Basque Country (; ; ), or Northern Basque Country (, or , ), is a region lying on the west of the French department of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. Since 1 January 2017, it constitutes the Basque Municipal Community (; ) presided o ...

. Crépel rides regular stance. He has also surfed competitively in the multi-discipline Quik Cup.

Early life

Crépel began snowboarding at the age of six in the Pyrenean resort of La Mongie (

) on a customised board specially designed for a small child with ski bindings, soon earning the nickname 'Little Monkey' for his agility. His family attended many major winter sports events due to his father's occupation as a ski instructor and consequently Crépel was present at the birth of snowboarding in France and the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees are a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. They extend nearly from their union with the Cantabrian Mountains to Cap de Creus on the Mediterranean coast, reaching a maximum elevation of at the peak of Aneto. ...

. When he was 10 years old, Crépel was spotted by

Terje Haakonsen Terje may refer to: *Terje (name), a form of the Scandinavian name Torgeir *Tria (), a village in the commune of Derna, Bihor, Romania {{Dab ...

whilst on a Quiksilver photoshoot in

Greenland Greenland is an autonomous territory in the Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark. It is by far the largest geographically of three constituent parts of the kingdom; the other two are metropolitan Denmark and the Faroe Islands. Citizens of Greenlan ...

and invited to take part in the Arctic Challenge and by the age of 15 he had been runner up in the Youth World Championships. He went on to win the snowboarding title in the Quik Cup of 2001 and 2002, took third place in the 2001 Half Pipe Junior World Championships and second place in the 2003 Quiksilver

Slopestyle Slopestyle is a winter sport in which athletes skiing, ski or snowboard down a course including a variety of obstacles including rails, jumps and other terrain park features. Points are scored for amplitude, originality and quality of tricks. Th ...

Pro in 2003.

Senior snowboarding career

In 2005, Crépel won the Crystal Globe and was the first ever French winner of a half pipe world title. In 2006, Crépel represented France at the Olympic Winter Games but failed to win a medal however later in the same year he became the first Ticket to Ride (TTR) World Snowboard Tour champion. In 2007, Mathieu Crépel became world champion at both big air and the half pipe at the World Championships in

Arosa Arosa is a List of towns in Switzerland, town and a municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the Plessur Region in the canton of Graubünden in Switzerland. It is both a summer and a winter tourist resort. On 1 January 2013, the former mu ...

, Switzerland. During the big air he became the first ever person to land a switch backside 12 in competition.

Mathieu Crépel Invitational

The Mathieu Crépel Invitational is a new annual event (inaugural meet February 2008) which will be held in the Ayré Forest in the Pyrenees and will form part of the TTR World Championship series. The event is notable for its unique format – each rider nominates two tricks and the set trick list is created by drawing five of the nominations at random.

Media and business ventures

Crépel has appeared in several snowboarding videos and is the subject of a book published in France by Editions Rival. He also a supporter of the environmental organisations the Mountain Riders association and the Surfrider Foundationhttp://www.myfreesport.fr/loisirs/outdoor/0/surfrider-gouvernement-soutient-association-riders-15661.html (in French)

References

External links