{{Short description|Canadian snowboarder (born 1980)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2021}} {{Infobox alpine ski racer | disciplines = Freestyle snowboarding, Snowboard cross | name = Dominique Maltais | birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1980|11|9}} | birth_place = Petite-Rivière-Saint-François, Quebec | death_date = | death_place = | height = 1.80 m | pb = | website = {{URL|https://www.instagram.com/dominiquesbx/}} | olympicteams = 3 (2006–2014) | olympicmedals = 2 | olympicgolds = 0 | worldsteams = 5 (2005, 2009–2015) | worldsmedals = 2 | worldsgolds = 0 | wcseasons = 10 (2004–2006, 2008-2014) | wcwins = 14 <!--thru 21 January 2015--> | wcpodiums = 37 <!--thru 21 January 2015--> | wcoveralls = 0 | wctitles = 5 - Snowboard Cross (2006, 2011-2014) | show-medals = yes | medaltemplates = {{MedalCompetition|International snowboard competitions}} {{MedalCount |Olympic Games|0|1|1 |World Championships|0|1|1 |Winter X Games|1|1|0 |'''Total'''|'''1'''|'''3'''|'''2''' }} {{MedalSport | Women's Snowboarding}} {{MedalCountry | {{CAN}} }} {{MedalCompetition | Olympic Games }} {{MedalSilver | 2014 Sochi | Snowboard cross}} {{MedalBronze | 2006 Turin | Snowboard cross}} {{MedalCompetition | FIS Snowboarding World Championships}} {{MedalSilver| 2013 Stoneham|Snowboard cross}} {{MedalBronze| 2011 La Molina|Snowboard cross}} {{MedalCompetition | Winter X Games}} {{MedalGold|2012 Aspen |Snowboard X}} {{MedalSilver|2015 Aspen |Snowboard X}} }}
'''Dominique Maltais''' (born 9 November 1980) is a Canadian snowboarder, specialising in snowboard cross. She is a two-time Olympic medallist, winning a bronze medal at the 2006 Torino Games and a silver medal at the 2014 Sochi Games. She also competed at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, where she failed to reach the final. At the FIS Snowboarding World Championships, she won a bronze medal in 2011 and a silver medal in 2013. She is the 2012 Winter X Games champion,<ref name="snowboard canada"/> and has won the Crystal Globe as the overall FIS World Cup champion in snowboard cross five times, in 2006, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014.<ref>{{cite news |title=Dominique Maltais |url=https://olympic.ca/team-canada/dominique-maltais/|publisher=Canadian Olympic Committee |date=2013|accessdate=2014-03-15}}</ref>
==Snowboarding career== Born in Petite-Rivière-Saint-François, Maltais started competing in 2002, and won the Canadian Championship in 2003 and again in 2004. Internationally, she came 5th in the World Cup during her rookie year (2003–04) with 2 podium finishes that year. In her second year (2004–05), she won the European Cup and came in 8th in the World Cup. During that World Cup she had two podium finishes, including her first gold. In the 2005 World Championships, Maltais finished 4th, letting her set her sights on an Olympic medal in Turin in 2006, the first time Snowboard Cross would be contested at the Winter Olympics.{{citation needed|date=March 2021}} thumb|left|300px|Dominique Maltais (red bib, left) leads over a jump at the 2009–10 FIS World Cup stop in Stoneham in January 2010. In Turin, Maltais was in a final of four with fellow Canadian Maëlle Ricker. Ricker fell in the early stages, and Maltais crashed out of a corner farther down. After the other two racers (Tanja Frieden and Lindsey Jacobellis) finished, Maltais was able to get up and finish the race, earning her the bronze. Dominique had a disappointing 2010 Winter Olympics falling in both of her qualifying runs and therefore did not qualify for the finals.<ref>{{cite news |title = Fog delays women's snowboard cross |publisher = CBC News |date =16 February 2010 |url = https://www.cbc.ca/sports/2.722/canada-s-ricker-wins-gold-in-snowboard-cross-1.866725|access-date=2010-02-16}}</ref>
Maltais followed a disappointing Olympics with a successful start to the 2010–11 FIS Snowboard World Cup leading the World Cup snowboard cross category heading into the 2011 World Snowboarding Championships. There she managed to take third place for the bronze medal.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Maltais takes bronze in snowboard cross at worlds |url= https://www.cbc.ca/sports/maltais-takes-bronze-in-snowboard-cross-at-worlds-1.1030717 |date=January 18, 2011 |access-date=2011-01-18 |work=CBC News}}</ref> Maltais finished the World Cup season as the overall and Crystal Globe champion in her category. This was her second overall title having previously achieved the feat in 2005–06.
At the XVI Winter X Games Maltais won her first medal which came as the gold and X Games champion in 2012. She had followed this with several successes on the World Cup tour that year, including a home nation victory at Blue Mountain.<ref>{{cite news|title=Canadian Maltais wins snowboard cross gold, Ricker 3rd |url=https://www.cbc.ca/sports/canadian-maltais-wins-snowboard-cross-gold-ricker-3rd-1.1182126 |work=CBC Sports |date=February 8, 2012}}</ref> This victory, among others, helped propel her to her second straight Crystal Globe championship as the overall winner on the FIS tour.<ref name="2012 Athlete of the Weekend">{{cite news|title=Canadian Athlete of the Weekend: Dominique Maltais |url=https://www.cbc.ca/sports/canadian-athlete-of-the-weekend-dominique-maltais-1.1140154 |publisher=CBC Sports |date=December 17, 2012 |access-date=January 29, 2013}}</ref> Success continued further into the following season where Maltais again won several events, in the early stages.<ref name="2012 Athlete of the Weekend"/> Maltais would also find further accomplishment by winning the silver at the 2013 World Snowboarding Championships which took place in her home province of Quebec. There she would place second, finishing familiarly behind teammate Ricker who won her first World Championship gold medal there.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Canadians grab gold, silver in snowboard cross worlds event |url=https://www.cbc.ca/sports/olympics/winter/2.675/canadians-grab-gold-silver-in-snowboard-cross-worlds-event-1.1352722 |publisher=January 26, 2013}}</ref>
Maltais went into the 2014 Winter Olympics as a strong medal contender with her results in the 2013–14 FIS Snowboard World Cup. At the Olympics, she qualified easily, Maltais was looking for some redemption from the previous Olympics where she crashed out in Vancouver. She qualified through from the semi's when, after a tough battle for the second position, Lindsey Jacobellis crashed when she was way out in front. This allowed for Maltais to enter the final. In that event, Eva Samkova who had dominated the event, from her fastest qualifying position through to the final, won gold but Maltais followed her through for silver.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://olympic.ca/2014/02/16/dominique-maltais-nabs-silver-in-ladie-sbx/ | title=Dominique Maltais nabs silver in ladies’ SBX | first=Callum | last=Ng | work=Canadian Olympic Committee | date=February 16, 2014}}</ref>
==Personal== Her father is the mayor of Petite-Rivière-Saint-François, her birthplace and hometown where she also fulfills her career as a firefighter.<ref name="snowboard canada">{{cite web|title=Snowboard Canada profile |url=https://www.canadasnowboard.ca/en/team/?id=24 |publisher=Snowboarding Canada |accessdate=January 7, 2013}}</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * {{Official website|https://www.instagram.com/dominiquesbx/}} * {{COC profile|dominique-maltais}} * {{Olympics.com profile|dominique-maltais}} * {{FIS snowboarder|77197}} * {{SR/Olympics|ma/dominique-maltais-1}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maltais, Dominique}} Category:1980 births Category:21st-century Canadian sportswomen Category:Canadian female snowboarders Category:Living people Category:Medalists at the 2006 Winter Olympics Category:Medalists at the 2014 Winter Olympics Category:Olympic bronze medalists for Canada Category:Olympic medalists in snowboarding Category:Olympic silver medalists for Canada Category:Olympic snowboarders for Canada Category:Snowboarders at the 2006 Winter Olympics Category:Snowboarders at the 2010 Winter Olympics Category:Snowboarders at the 2014 Winter Olympics Category:Sportspeople from Capitale-Nationale Category:Sportswomen from Quebec Category:X Games competitors