Sébastien Toutant

Sébastien Toutant (born November 9, 1992) is a Canadian snowboarder. He is the reigning Olympic gold medalist in men's big air snowboarding from its debut at the 2018 Winter Olympics.[2] Toutant was twice the gold medal winner in slopestyle at the X Games in 2011 and 2013. He has won an additional two silver medals plus a bronze in slopestyle and big air events at the X Games bringing his total medals in the competition to five.

Sébastien Toutant

Sébastien Toutant at the Quebec City big air competition
Personal information
Nickname(s)	Seb Toots[1]
Nationality	Canadian
Born	November 9, 1992 L'Assomption, Quebec
Height	170 cm (5 ft 7 in)[1]
Weight	70 kg (154 lb)[1]
Website	sebtoots.com
Sport
Country	Canada
Sport	Snowboarding
Event(s)	Slopestyle, Big Air[1]
College team	st. kingstone
Team	Canada (2014, 2018)
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals	2014, 2018
Medal record Representing  Canada Men's snowboarding Olympic Games 2018 Pyeongchang Big Air X Games 2011 Aspen Slopestyle 2013 Tignes Slopestyle 2011 Aspen Big Air 2016 Aspen Slopestyle 2012 Aspen Big Air

Career

Starting snowboarding at age nine, Toutant got into the sport when he broke his skis and borrowed his brother's old snowboard.[1] Toutant's skills were first noticed when he won his first professional event at just 13 years of age.[1] He was taken by a film crew to Mount Hood shortly after to shoot video of him on the biggest jumps he had seen at this point in his life.[1] Toutant had missed making his debut the X Games in 2010 because of a broken ankle. The following season though, Toutant won a silver medal in Snowboard Big Air at the 2011 Winter X Games XV in Aspen, Colorado, behind Torstein Horgmo.[3] He also won gold in Snowboard Slopestyle in the same games, it was his first gold at the X Games.[4][5] The victory in slopestyle at the X Games made Toutant the first male rookie to win gold at the X Games in the event since 2002.[1] During the spring of 2011, he was the third person to land a triple cork (backside 1440).[6]

The following season Toutant failed to make any significant podium finishes. In 2013 Toutant returned to the X Games in Tignes, France. There he made it to the top of the podium beating his friend and teammate Mark McMorris whom he has known since he was 14.[1] Toutant made his Olympic debut at the 2014 Winter Olympics where he was a member of Canada's snowboard team.[7] In the slopestyle final in Sochi he finished in 9th place overall.[8] Following the Olympics Toutant would further his X Games pedigree, winning silver in slopestyle in Aspen, Colorado in 2016.[1] A week later he would win the Air + Style event in Innsbruck, Austria.[1]

Building towards his next Olympics Toutant had highly successful season in 2016-17. First he won bronze in the slopestyle event at the X Games Europe in Oslo, Norway. He would then win the slopestyle event at the Cardrona Winter Games in New Zealand and a gold medal in Quebec City in slopestyle at a stop on 2016–17 FIS Snowboard World Cup tour.[1] Toutant would also place second in the Air + Style event in Beijing that year and a second place finished in the US Grand Prix, while finishing his season with a third place finish on the Dew Tour.

Though he was named to 2018 Canadian Olympic team in Pyeongchang, Toutant participated in few events in the buildup to the games. It was later revealed that he had been dealing with a compressed disc in his back and was forced to gym only training and practicing while teammates McMorris and Maxence Parrot were training on the slopes.[9] Keeping his injury a secret Toutant hit the slopes at the Olympics, he finished last in the men's slopestyle final. In the big air final Toutant defied his injury and rode to a surprise gold medal, surpassing teammates McMorris and Parrot. He said of his gold medal victory after that "I just love snowboarding so much, and I've been through so much lately. A couple of months ago, I couldn't even snowboard, so it definitely feels great that I'm able to ride at my best and to put the tricks down. To be able to show up and to show the world what I can do is just awesome."[9] The victory made Toutant the first men's big air champion in the Olympics as this was the debut of the event at the games.[9]

Competition history

• 3rd place 2015 U.S. Grand Prix - Slopestyle
• 2014 Ride Shakedown - Best Trick
• 2nd place 2014 Dew Tour - Slopestyle
• 1st place AST Mile High - Slopestyle
• 2013 European Winter X Games Gold - Slopestyle
• 1st place 2012 TTR Overall Champion
• 1st Overall in 2012 Dew Tour Year End Rankings - Slopestyle
• 1st place 2012 Burton Open: Vermont - Slopestyle
• 2012 Winter X Games Bronze - Big Air
• 2011 Winter X Games Gold - Slopestyle
• 2011 Winter X Games Silver - Big Air
• 5-time Ride Shakedown Champion (2006, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014)
• 2018 Winter Olympic Gold Medalist - Big Air

References

1. "Sébastien Toutant profile". Canadian Olympic Committee. Retrieved 2018-02-26.
2. "FIS-Ski – biographie – Sebastien Toutant". fis-ski.com. Archived from the original on 2013-02-14. Retrieved 2013-02-14.
3. "Snowboard Big Air Results". EXPN.com. 28 January 2011. Retrieved 30 January 2011.
4. "Men's Snowboard Slope Style Results". EXPN.com. 30 January 2011. Retrieved 30 January 2011.
5. "Snowboard Slopestyle Results". EXPN.com. 30 January 2011. Retrieved 30 January 2011.
6. von Horn, Steve (25 January 2012). "Winter X Games 2012: Sebastien Toutant Looks To Grab Gold Again". SB Nation Denver. Archived from the original on 2013-06-13. Retrieved 2013-06-13.
7. "The Athletes – Sochi 2014 – CBC Sports – sebastien-toutant". CBC.ca. Archived from the original on 2014-02-05. Retrieved 2014-02-05.
8. "Sebastien TOUTANT". sochi2014.com. Organizing Committee of the XXII Olympic Winter Games. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
9. Vicki Hall (February 24, 2018). "Sebastien Toutant's tenacity earns him inaugural Olympic men's big air gold". CBC Sports. Archived from the original on 2018-02-26. Retrieved 2018-02-27.

External links

• Sébastien Toutant at the International Ski Federation
• Sebastien Toutant at International Olympic Committee
• Sebastien Toutant at Canadian Olympic Committee
• Sebastien Toutant at Olympedia
• Sebastien Toutant at X Games
• Sebastien Toutant at FIS (snowboarding)