Julien Cousineau

Biography

A slalom specialist, Julien Cousineau recorded Canada’s best-ever Olympic result in the men’s slalom when he finished eighth at Vancouver 2010. That came four years after he missed a chance to make his Olympic debut at Turin 2006 due to a knee injury.

Cousineau made his world championship debut in 2003, the same year he was named Alpine Canada’s Breakthrough Male Athlete of the Year. But starting in 2004 he went through a series of knee injuries that took four years to overcome. During that time, his World Cup results suffered and he recorded numerous DNFs.  He also did not compete at either the 2005 or 2007 World Championships.

After his top-10 result at Vancouver 2010, Cousineau had another breakthrough at the 2011 World Championships when he finished fifth in the slalom. He was unable to maintain momentum when he had to undergo ACL surgery on his left knee after it gave way during a World Cup slalom race in Adelboden, Switzerland in January 2012. He did not compete at the 2013 World Championships.