Sylvain Dufour (born 19 November 1982 in

Saint-Dié-des-Vosges Saint-Dié-des-Vosges (; , before 1999: ''Saint-Dié'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Vosges department, Grand Est, northeastern France. It is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the department. Geography Saint-Dié is locat ...

) 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,

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

, and later represented his nation

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

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 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, com ...

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 The 2010 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXI Olympic Winter Games () and also known as Vancouver 2010 (), were an international winter multi-sport event held from February 12 to 28, 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with ...

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 cit ...

. 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 The 2014 Winter Olympics, officially called the XXII Olympic Winter Games () and commonly known as Sochi 2014 (), were an international winter multi-sport event that was held from 7 to 23 February 2014 in Sochi, Russia. Opening ro ...

Sochi Sochi ( rus, Сочи, p=ˈsotɕɪ, a=Ru-Сочи.ogg, from – ''seaside'') is the largest Resort town, resort city in Russia. The city is situated on the Sochi (river), Sochi River, along the Black Sea in the North Caucasus of Souther ...

, 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'' (from ', "sexual intercourse" and ', "reserved"), also known as sexual continence, is a form of sexual intercourse in which a male does not attempt to ejaculate within his partner, avoiding the seminal emission. It is disti ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and in Sudelfeld,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. 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 (; born August 23, 1986) is an American-born Russian snowboarder. Career Wild won a bronze medal in the parallel giant slalom at the FIS Snowboarding World Championships 2013, 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 natio ...

, 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 with Nathalie Desmares as a partner in 2018.

References

External links

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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 Sportspeople from Saint-Dié-des-Vosges Winter World University Games medalists in snowboarding FISU World University Games bronze medalists for France Competitors at the 2007 Winter Universiade 21st-century French sportsmen