Nicolas Fontaine

Fontaine, Nicolas

Nicolas Fontaine, freestyle skier - aerials (b at Magog, Qué 5 October 1970) As a pupil of former Canadian aerialist Jean-Marc Rozon, he won his first-ever World Cup medal (silver) as a member of Canada's national development team. In the 1990s, Fontaine dominated the world scene by claiming the World Cup aerialist title for four consecutive seasons (1996-97, 1997-98, 1998-99, 1999-2000), and claimed another World Cup title early in 2002, a month before the Salt Lake 2002 OLYMPIC GAMES.

Fontaine was the first man to ever perform two quadruple somersault manoeuvres in competition (Mont Gabriel, Qué, at the Canadian National Championships 2000). He had been training "quads" in the hope that they would be officially accepted in international competition prior to the 2002 Games but, due to inconsistent training facilities in other countries, this did not happen. He was a member of the Canadian Olympic team in 1992, 1994 and 1998 but did not reach the medal podium. He was named to the 2002 Salt Lake Olympic team and, after a fall on the landing of his first jump, managed a 16th-place finish overall in the men's aerials. He retired in 2003.

In all, Nicolas Fontaine amassed 84 top-10 finishes at the world level during his career and represented Canada at 4 Winter Olympic Games. In 2007 he was inducted into the Canadian Ski Hall of Fame, and in 2009 he entered the Quebec Sports Hall of Fame. He remains involved in the sport of freestyle skiing as a co-developer and head coach of Jump 2010, a training and development program, and he was instrumental in the creation of a world-renowned water-training facility in Le Relais, Que.