French downhill ski racer David Poisson tragically passed away in a training accident in Canada on November 13, 2017 while preparing for the World Cup season. March 31 would be David’s 36th birthday. The 2017-2018 season wasn’t the same without him. He is dearly missed by the Salomon family. A member of our Salomon family for more than 20 years, the Frenchman from nearby Peisey-Vallandry in the Savoie region left behind a wife and son.
David said his earliest ski memories were from when he was a kid, wanting to enter the ski club with all of his friends.
“Because I didn’t ski as well as the others, I had to go to ski school with the tourists,” he told Salomon in 2016. “The ski instructor made me stay at the back of the line—because I could still ski better than all of the tourists—to bring up the pack. After a fall, I lost the group. It was fatal to my pride, so I quit the class. My first ski competition memory was a junior level (age 10-11) super-G at Val d’Isere. When I got to the bottom, I couldn't see the time. It was no big deal, so I sat down to eat my sandwich when someone called me to the podium. I was third! I threw my sandwich at my brother to go get my prize. When I got back, my sandwich had disappeared!”
A modest man, Poisson said skiing was his passion. He carried this childlike love for skiing all the way to the World Cup circuit, and eventually the Olympic Games, usually with a wide smile. Known as “Kaillou” (or “small stone”) for his physique, Poisson debuted on the World Cup tour in 2004, making a multitude of friends during his 13 years on the circuit. As comments poured in from his fellow competitors following his passing, it’s clear he was a beloved and respected figure who is greatly missed by the World Cup racing community.
A lover of sports in general, Poisson was particularly fond of motor sports and enjoyed meeting up-and-coming ski racers at youth competitions. A local ski racer who grew up just a couple of hours from Salomon in the ski village of Peisey-Vallandry in the Savoie region of France, Poisson had been an official member of the Salomon family since 1995. In fact, he still lived in the village where he was raised, “surrounded by family and friends from my youth,” he said.
Poisson was first equipped with Salomon gear by Salomon’s French promotion department when he was in his ski club at Peisey in the committee of Savoie. When he entered to the French Federation, Salomon’s international racing service team took over the relationship with the young talent. Christian Frison-Roche, who has been involved in Salomon’s Alpine Racing department for more than four decades (and, until his recent retirement, was the leader of the team), has known Poisson for more than two decades. He watched as the racer grew from a young up-and-comer to a medalist at the World Championships, and then a father.
“For me, David was not only an athlete on our team, I'm losing a longtime friend”, Frison-Roche said. “A humble, grateful, respectful, faithful boy who will always be an example in the ski world.”
Poisson’s career-best moment came at the 2013 World Championships at Schladming, Austria, where he won the bronze medal in the downhill. At the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, he finished 7th in the downhill. On the World Cup, his best result was a third place finish at the Santa Catarina downhill in 2016. He had seven other top-10 results in his career, including a 4th place finish in the downhill at Kitzbühel in 2013 and another 4th at Bormio in 2010. At the World Championships in Bormio in 2005, he was 9th in both the downhill and super-G.
“It's a great pleasure to see the family of my fan club growing little-by-little,” he told us in 2016. “I just hope to give my fans a fraction of the pleasure they give me when I see them waiting at the bottom of the race.”
When asked what he loved most about his sport, David said simply: “What I love about ski racing is the speed, the adrenaline and the fact that your main competition is yourself.”
You are missed, friend.
