Pierre Vaultier, born on June 24, 1987 in Briançon in the Hautes-Alpes, is a French snowboarder, specializing in snowboardcross.[1]
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Vaultier started snowboarding at the age of six at Serre Chevalier,[2] one of the major French ski resorts located in the southern part of the Alps. 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 in 2005. He participated in the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turino and at the X Games in 2007. On March 13, 2008, he won the crystal globe in snowboarding by finishing second in the final round of the 2007–08 FIS Snowboard World CupWorld Cup at Chiesa in Valmalenco.[3] On December 13, 2008, he slipped during training at Serre Chevalier and suffered a lumbar fracture.[4] After operation in Grenoble, he missed the majority of the season but was the leader in following World Cup in Chapelco, Argentina.
After the 2009 season marked by his injury, Vaultier began the World Cup 2010 at Chapelco with a victory before Seth Wescott. Since then he added three more victories to this winter at Telluride, Veysonnaz and in Quebec at Stoneham, as well as a second place at Bad Gastein. He is a designated favorite at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver[5]