Corinne Niogret (born 20 November 1972, in Nantua, Ain) is a former French biathlete. She won 2 Olympic medals and 15 medals in the Biathlon World Championships. In 1999/2000 she finished 3rd in the overall World Cup, and she has a total of 8 victories in World Cup races.
Émile Allais (25 February 1912 – 17 October 2012) was a champion alpine ski racer from France; he won all three events at the 1937 world championships in Chamonix and the gold in the combined in 1938. Born in Megève, he was a dominant racer in the late 1930s and is considered to have been the first great French alpine skier.
Allais won the bronze medal in the combined (downhill and slalom), the only alpine medal event at the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch, Germany. These Olympics were the first to award medals in alpine skiing. The previous year, he had won the silver medal in the downhill and combined at the 1935 world championships. In 1937 he was a triple world champion at Chamonix, France, winning all three events (downhill, slalom, and combined). The following year at Engelberg, Switzerland, he won the combined, and took silver in the downhill and slalom. He created the École Française de Ski which taught innovative methods of Anton Seelos (who was his trainer and instructor), characterised by parallel turns, controlling the speed by sideslipping, and turning by ruade (French: kick, back kick), i.e. kicking the backs of the skis up and pivoting on the tips while rotating the body in the direction of the turn. The École du Ski Français (ESF) is now the biggest Ski school in the world in terms of numbers of ski teachers, and is present in every single French ski resort, and even abroad.
After a spell in North and South America (Squaw Valley, California and Portillo, Chile) Allais held the post of technical director at Courchevel from 1954 to 1964, where he introduced many ideas from the U.S. regarding slope preparation and piste security. He later worked as a technical consultant for other resorts, notably La Plagne and Flaine. One of the Saulire couloirs at Courchevel is named after Allais.
As a consultant to Skis Rossignol, Allais helped to design the laminated-wood Olympic 41 ski (1941), and the first aluminum skis to win major ski races, the Métallais (1959) and Allais 60 (1960). The Olympic 41 later served as the basis of Rossignol's very successful Strato (1964).
In December 2005, 93-year-old Allais made the trip to the French Senate in Paris where he was honoured, along with a number of other ski instructors. His life has been all about skiing; he learned his skiing early, raced all over Europe, then coached the French Olympic ski team for seven years. Allais fought in World War II on skis, and even courted his wife at a ski meet. He turned 100 in February 2012.Allais died after an illness in a hospital in Sallanches in the French Alps on 17 October 2012.
David Poisson (31 March 1982 – 13 November 2017) was a French World Cup alpine ski racer, who specialized in the speed events. He made his World Cup debut in 2004. Poisson represented France at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, where he placed 7th in the downhill. At the 2013 World Championships, Poisson made his first podium in top-level competition, taking bronze in the downhill. In 2015, Poisson took his only World Cup podium in a downhill in Santa Caterina, finishing third.Poisson died in a crash during training in Canada, at Nakiska near Calgary, on 13 November 2017. He caught an edge, went through the safety netting, and struck a tree.
Marie Martinod (born 20 July 1984) is a French freestyle skier. She won two silver medals in the halfpipe at the 2014 and 2018 Winter Olympics. She also won three medals in the superpipe event at the Winter X Games: one gold in 2017 and two bronze in 2006 and 2014.A 51-minute movie, Memories of my People (Au nom des miens), tells her story.
Frédéric Covili (born 14 November 1975 in Moûtiers) is a French former alpine skier who competed in the 2002 Winter Olympics.
Roddy Darragon (born August 31, 1983 in Le Grand-Bornand) is a French cross-country skier and non-commissioned officer who has competed since 2002. Competing in three Winter Olympics, he earned France's first ever Winter Olympic cross-country skiing medal with a silver in the individual sprint event at Turin in 2006.
Darragon's best finish at the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships was a 35th in the individual sprint event in 2005. His best World Cup finish was fourth in a sprint event in the Czech Republic in 2005.
Candide Thovex (born 22 May 1982 in Annecy) is a French professional skier, filmmaker and entrepreneur. He is known for his creative freestyle skiing movies and professional accomplishments. His first notable jump was at Chad's Gap, a massive transfer jump of 120 feet (37 m) from take-off to landing over a 40 feet (12 m) deep gully in Alta, Utah, US. His point of view videos routinely go viral on the internet and are viewed by tens of millions. He is widely considered to be one of the best freeskiers in the history of the sport.He is the older brother of snowboarder Mirabelle Thovex.
Jean-Guillaume Béatrix (born 24 March 1988) is a retired French biathlete who has competed since 2005 till 2018. He was won the silver medal in the relay at the World Championships in 2012 and 2013, as well as the bronze in the Pursuit at the 2014 Olympics at Sochi. Béatrix has had four podium finishes in World Cup races in individual races.
Joël Chenal (born 10 October 1973 in Moûtiers) is a French alpine skier.Chenal won a silver medal in the giant slalom at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. His other notable successes are first place in Alta Badia (19 December 1999), second place in Yongpyong (26 February 2000) and third place in Kranjska Gora (8 March 2000), all of them in giant slalom.
Steve Missillier (born 12 December 1984) is a French alpine skier and non-commissioned officer. Missillier represented France at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, and won a silver medal in giant slalom at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.