Carole Montillet


Carole Montillet-Carles 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 standings

Race victories

SeasonDateLocationDiscipline
200116 Feb 2001 Garmisch-PartenkirchenSuper-G
20037 Dec 2002 Lake LouiseDownhill
200313 Dec 2002 Val d'IsèreSuper-G
200315 Jan 2003 Cortina d'AmpezzoSuper-G
20045 Dec 2003 Lake LouiseDownhill
20046 Dec 2003 Lake LouiseDownhill
200418 Jan 2004 Cortina d'AmpezzoDownhill
20041 Feb 2004 Haus im EnnstalSuper-G

World Championship results

Olympic results