Alain Laroche (born September 20, 1963 in Québec , Québec ) is a former Canadian freestyle skier . He started in all disciplines and became the first combined world champion in 1986. He won the overall Freestyle World Cup twice, as well as four combination disciplines and 21 individual competitions. His brothers Yves , Dominique and Philippe were also active as freestyle skis.
Alain is the fifth of seven children of the architect Guy Laroche (1930–?) And his wife Suzanne (née Grondin, 1931–2017) from Lac-Beauport . With three of his brothers he spearheaded the so-called " Québec Air Force ". His younger sister Lucie was an active ski racer .
Laroche made his debut in the Freestyle Skiing World Cup in January 1982 in the Pocono Mountains and finished fourth straight away in ballet . He reached his first podium in the same winter in the combinations of Livigno , Oberjoch and Tignes . He celebrated his first World Cup victory in February 1983 in the combination of Livigno. With another victory he secured himself the first time to win the discipline classification, and he also achieved his only two victories in jumping. In the overall World Cup he finished second at the end of the season. As part of the Canadian Championships, he won his first two of a total of five titles. In 1983/84 Laroche was able to improve on the moguls and ballet and thanks to the additional points he won the overall World Cup for the first time. In Ravascletto he reached the only ballet podium of his career in third place. In the following winter he celebrated six combined wins and defended his title in the overall World Cup, in the Aerials classification he reached a career high thanks to several podium placements with second place.
In the 1985/86 season he fell far behind, especially on the moguls and could not quite build on earlier successes in the other disciplines. For this he prevailed at the first world championships in Tignes in combination and won the gold medal with good placements in aerials and ballet. In 1987/88 Laroche won the combined ranking in the World Cup for the fourth time and was unable to assert itself against the strong internal competition in qualifying for the Olympic Games in Calgary . He also missed the world championships in Oberjoch. After more than 200 World Cups, he ended his active career in competitive sports in March 1990.
Canada
