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 Ma ...

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 Serre Chevalier () is a major ski resort in Southeastern France, near the Italian border, located in the Hautes-Alpes department, Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated to the northeast of Écrins National Park in the French Alps, th ...

, one of the major French ski resorts located in the southern part of the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, ...

. 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 ...

in 2005. He participated in the 2006 Winter Olympics in

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 The X Games are an annual extreme sports event organized, produced and broadcast by ESPN. Coverage is also shown on ESPN's sister network, ABC. The inaugural X Games were held during the summer of 1995 in Providence and Newport, Rhode Island, ...

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 Chiesa in Valmalenco is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Sondrio in the Italian region Lombardy, located about northeast of Milan and about north of Sondrio, on the border with Switzerland. The English for "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. After undergoing surgery in

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

, he missed the majority of the season but was the leader in following

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 ...

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 ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, t ...

2010: return and climb

After the 2009 season marked by his injury, Vaultier began the

World Cup 2010 , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

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 Quebec ( ; )According to the Government of Canada, 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 ...

at Stoneham, as well as a second place at

Bad Gastein Bad Gastein (; formerly ''Badgastein''; Southern Bavarian: ''Bod Goschdei'') is a spa town in the district of St. Johann im Pongau, in the Austrian state of Salzburg. Picturesquely situated in a high valley of the Hohe Tauern mountain range, it ...

. 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 Doan Nancy GreeneWayne Gr ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. Th ...

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

2014: Sochi

Two months after tearing his

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation ...

(ACL), Vaultier won the gold medal in the snowboard cross at the

2014 Winter Olympics The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games (russian: XXII Олимпийские зимние игры, XXII Olimpiyskiye zimniye igry) and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (russian: Сочи 2014), was an international ...

in Sochi.

2018: Pyeongchang

After surviving a crash in the semifinals of the

2018 Winter Olympics The 2018 Winter Olympics ( ko, 2018년 동계 올림픽, Icheon sip-pal nyeon Donggye Ollimpik), officially the XXIII Olympic Winter Games (french: Les XXIIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver; ko, 제23회 동계 올림픽, Jeisipsamhoe Donggye Ollimpi ...

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 S ...

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