Carole Montillet

Carole Montillet
Medal record
Women's alpine skiing
Representing  France
Olympic Games
Gold medal – first place 2002 Salt Lake City Downhill
World Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2005 Bormio Team event

Carole Montillet-Carles (born 7 April 1973) is a French World Cup alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist.

Career

Born in Corrençon-en-Vercors, Isère, she became a member of the Villard-de-Lans ski club in Grenoble. At her Olympic debut in 1998 at Nagano, Japan, she finished 14th in both the super-G and downhill.

In January 2002, Montillet was chosen by the Comité National Olympique et Sportif Français to be the flag bearer at Salt Lake City. Her victory in the downhill days later was her first major triumph and the first alpine gold medal by a Frenchwoman since Marielle Goitschel's slalom gold in Grenoble in 1968. She dedicated the win to her late teammate Régine Cavagnoud, the reigning world champion in super-G, who died after a training accident less than four months earlier.

Montillet's achievements were more remarkable because she has suffered multiple serious injuries early in her career, such as torn knee ligaments.

While training for the downhill at the 2006 Winter Olympics, Montillet-Carles crashed on 13 February and was evacuated by helicopter to a nearby hospital. She suffered rib, back, and facial injuries, but still opted to defend her title two days later, but finished 28th. Several racers had complained that the downhill course was too easy, and Olympic organizers had made several changes to it. She finished fifth in the super-G five days later, then retired from competition at the end of the World Cup season.

World Cup results

Season titles

Season Discipline
2003 Super-G

Season standings

Season Age Overall Slalom Giant
Slalom
Super G Downhill Combined
1992 18 105 39 21 21
1993 19 59 39 10 8 8
1994 20 59 33 12 27 28
1995 21 67 52 9 20
1996 22 31 36 22 26
1997 23 15 47 15 15
1998 24 26 52 21 9
1999 25 26 16 4 8
2000 26 55 11 4 5 10
2001 27 9 3 4
2002 28 16 16 9 13
2003 29 6 28 1 4
2004 30 5 25 2 3
2005 31 18 16 7
2006 32 37 22 20

Race victories

  • 8 wins – (4 DH, 4 SG)
  • 25 podiums – (13 DH, 12 SG)
Season Date Location Discipline
2001 16 Feb 2001 Germany Garmisch-Partenkirchen Super-G
2003 7 Dec 2002 Canada Lake Louise Downhill
13 Dec 2002 France Val d'Isère Super-G
15 Jan 2003 Italy Cortina d'Ampezzo Super-G
2004 5 Dec 2003 Canada Lake Louise Downhill
6 Dec 2003 Downhill
18 Jan 2004 Italy Cortina d'Ampezzo Downhill
1 Feb 2004 Austria Haus im Ennstal Super-G

World Championship results

  Year    Age   Slalom   Giant 
 Slalom 
Super G Downhill Combined Team
event
1993 19 8 not
run
1996 22 11 20
1997 23 4 7
1999 25 15 22
2001 27 5 10
2003 29 19 14 7
2005 31 DNF 21 3

Olympic results

  Year    Age   Slalom   Giant 
 Slalom 
Super G Downhill Combined
1998 24 14 14
2002 28 18 7 1
2006 32 5 28