Adrien Duvillard (ski racer, 1934)

Adrien Duvillard (born November 7, 1934 in Megève ; † February 14, 2017 there ) was a French ski racer . With a series of top results in the second half of the 1950s, he initiated a revival of the French alpine tradition.

biography

Duvillard celebrated first successes in 1952 with a second and a third place in the two giant slaloms of the 3-tre races and in January 1955 with a third place in the downhill of the Hahnenkamm race . The following year, as a 21-year-old, he took part in the Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo and, as a newcomer, achieved the best result of the French national ski team with fourth place in the giant slalom. He missed an even greater success in the slalom, in which he was placed in second place with only 0.2 seconds behind Toni Sailer after the first run, but was eliminated in the second run (according to »Vorarlberger Nachrichten« of February 1, 1956 , Page 8, he called several times in disappointment “Quel dommage, quel dommage…” (“What a shame, what a shame…”)).
In the following years he was able to assert himself at the top of the world. At the World Cup in 1958 , he reached fifth place in the downhill. In the same year he won the slalom of the 3-Tre race.

In the 1959/60 season Duvillard won the downhill, slalom and combined classification of the Hahnenkammerennens as well as the combined classification of the Arlberg-Kandahar race and traveled as a big favorite to the Olympic Winter Games in Squaw Valley . However, the competitions there were disappointing for him: In his specialty giant slalom, he only achieved tenth place, in the downhill and in the slalom he was eliminated after falling. A week and a half later, however, he won the combination of the Harriman Cup in Sun Valley . In 1961 he became French champion in downhill and combined.

At the 1962 World Cup in Chamonix , he reached fourth place in the giant slalom. Then he announced his retirement from the national team and became a professional. As such, he was slalom world champion in Seefeld on January 30, 1965 and a day later third in the giant slalom.

His son Adrien Duvillard junior and his brother Henri Duvillard were also successful ski racers.

statistics

Olympic games   discipline space Cortina d'Ampezzo 1956 Giant slalom 4th   slalom 38.   Departure excluded   Squaw Valley 1960 Giant slalom 10.   Departure excluded   slalom excluded

World championships Alpine World Ski Championships 1958 in Bad Gastein 5th in the descent Alpine World Ski Championships 1962 in Chamonix 4th in the giant slalom

swell

• É. Seidler, R. Parienté: Dictionnaire des sports. 1963

Web links

• Adrien Duvillard in the database of the International Ski Federation (English)
• Adrien Duvillard in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )

Individual evidence

1. ^ Adrien Duvillard est décédé des suites d'un malaise . lequipe.fr , February 14, 2017, accessed on February 17, 2017 (French).
2. ^ Victory and defeat in Sun Valley . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna March 8, 1960, p. 9 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
3. ↑ «The great shock for Duvillard» . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna January 31, 1965, p. 16 ( Arbeiter-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).
4. ^ "The alpine race at the crossroads" . In: Arbeiter-Zeitung . Vienna February 2, 1965, p. 12 ( berufer-zeitung.at - the open online archive - digitized).