Mathieu Crépel (born 26 October 1984 in

Tarbes Tarbes (; Gascon: ''Tarba'') is a commune in the Hautes-Pyrénées department in the Occitanie region of southwestern France. It is the capital of Bigorre and of the Hautes-Pyrénées. It has been a commune since 1790. It was known as ''Turb ...

, Hautes-Pyrénées) 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 Paralympi ...

and World Champion based in

Anglet Anglet (; , eu, Angelu )ANGELU
Northern Basque Country The French Basque Country, or Northern Basque Country ( eu, Iparralde (), french: Pays basque, es, País Vasco francés) is a region lying on the west of the French department of the Pyrénées-Atlantiques. Since 1 January 2017, it constitu ...

. Crépel rides

regular stance Footedness is the natural preference of one's left or right foot for various purposes. It is the foot equivalent of handedness. While purposes vary, such as applying the greatest force in a certain foot to complete the action of kick as opposed to ...

. 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 The village of La Mongie is at altitude. There are also residences at 1850 and the Tourmalet building at 1900. It lies below the Col du Tourmalet . It is in the canton of Campan in the Midi-Pyrénées region (department 65) of France and arou ...

( Hautes-Pyrénées) 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 (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to ...

. 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 ( hu, Terje), a village in the commune of Derna, Bihor Derna ( hu, Felsőderna) is a commune in northeastern Bihor County, Crișana, Romania, 50 km from the co ...

whilst on a

Quiksilver Quiksilver is a brand of surf-inspired apparel and accessories that was founded in 1969 in Torquay, Australia, but is now based in Huntington Beach, California. It is one of the world's largest brands of surfwear and boardsport-related e ...

photoshoot in

Greenland Greenland ( kl, Kalaallit Nunaat, ; da, Grønland, ) is an island country in North America that is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. It is located between the Arctic and Atlantic oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Greenland is ...

and invited to take part in

the Arctic Challenge The Arctic Challenge is a snowboarding contest arranged for and by the riders themselves. It was started by Norwegian professional snowboarders Daniel Franck and Terje Håkonsen. The contest was established as an alternative to the former competiti ...

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 A half-pipe is a structure used in gravity extreme sports such as snowboarding, skateboarding, skiing, freestyle BMX, skating, and scooter riding. Overview The structure resembles a cross-section of a swimming pool, essentially two concave ramps ...

Junior World Championships and second place in the 2003 Quiksilver

Slopestyle Slopestyle is a winter sport in which athletes 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. The disc ...

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 , neighboring_municipalities= Alvaneu, Davos, Langwies, Lantsch/Lenz, Molinis, Peist, Schmitten, Tschiertschen, Vaz/Obervaz, Wiesen , twintowns = Fukumitsu (Japan) Arosa is a town and a municipality in the Plessur Region in the canton ...

, 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 Foundation The Surfrider Foundation USA is a U.S. 501(c)(3) grassroots non-profit environmental organization that works to protect and preserve the world's oceans, waves and beaches. It focuses on water quality, beach access, beach and surf spot preserva ...

http://www.myfreesport.fr/loisirs/outdoor/0/surfrider-gouvernement-soutient-association-riders-15661.html (in French)

References

External links