Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Nationality | French | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Perpignan, France | 20 June 1974||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Cécile Hernandez is a French para-snowboarder and four-time Paralympic medallist, with a gold medal from Beijing 2022, a silver medal from Sochi 2014 and both a silver and a bronze from PyeongChang 2018. She competes for the teams Les Angles and France Douanes, [1] [2] as well as the French national Paralympic team; outside sport, she is a customs officer journalist and writer. [1] [2]
Hernandez began her sporting career as a BMX racer in international competition [1] [3] before discovering snowboarding. On 21 October 2002 she experienced an attack of multiple sclerosis that paralysed her legs for two months. [3] [4] [5] As a result, she stopped sport and took refuge in writing, publishing two books for Éditions du Rocher and working for Europe 1 (from 2011) and Le Figaro from 2012, covering the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London.
In May 2012, Hernandez arranged an endurance race for both disabled and able-bodied athletes, travelling from Lyon to Bordeaux by bicycle and kayak. [3] Then, in 2013, when she happened to try snowboarding again in the French Alps, she was spotted by a member of the French para-snowboarding team. [3] She was selected for the Paralympic snowboarding team for the Sochi Games in February 2014, with just over a month to prepare, but was encouraged by her performance at the World Para Snowboard World Cup the previous month. [3] She won a silver Paralympic medal at Sochi, with a snowboard cross time of 2:07.31, [1] and was named a knight of the National Order of Merit by then-president François Hollande in June 2014. [1]
In the 2014–15 season, Hernandez won the grand slam with all stages of the World Para Snowboard World Cup in both snowboard cross and banked slalom; leading her first full season gained her a Crystal Globe and she ended the season at La Molina crowned world champion in banked slalom and with a silver medal in snowboard cross. [6] In 2015–16, still competing for the Les Angles team, she won 10 races in the European and World Cups and 2 further Crystal Globes — a gros globe for leading the World Para Snowboard rankings and a petit globe for first place in the banked slalom — as well as the silver medal for snowboard cross. [7]
On 4 February 2017 at Big White, she won another silver medal in snowboard cross, [8] winning the banked slalom silver 3 days later. [9] At the end of the 2016–17 season the following month, with 7 spots on the podium, including 5 victories, she won a third gros globe and both petits globes for snowboard cross and banked slalom. [10]
She joined the France Douanes team on 20 January 2017 with the aim of travelling to PyeongChang as a part of the French Paralympic team for the 2018 Winter games, [11] [2] where she won bronze in the snowboard cross [12] and silver in the banked slalom. [13]
She won the silver medal in the women's dual banked slalom SB-LL1 event at the 2021 World Para Snow Sports Championships held in Lillehammer, Norway. [14] [15] She also won the gold medal in the women's snowboard cross SB-LL1 event. [16] [17]
Hernandez is classified as a SB-LL1 snowboarder. Hernandez learned days before her competition at the 2022 Winter Paralympics that she was allowed to compete. [18] This was previously not permitted as there are no SB-LL1 events for female snowboarders in the snowboarding programme. [19] [20] She won the gold medal in the women's snowboard cross SB-LL2 event. [21] [22] She also competed in the women's banked slalom SB-LL2 event. [22]
Hernandez is married, to Frédéric, with a daughter, Victoire-Eléonore. [23]
Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Nationality | French | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Perpignan, France | 20 June 1974||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
|
Cécile Hernandez is a French para-snowboarder and four-time Paralympic medallist, with a gold medal from Beijing 2022, a silver medal from Sochi 2014 and both a silver and a bronze from PyeongChang 2018. She competes for the teams Les Angles and France Douanes, [1] [2] as well as the French national Paralympic team; outside sport, she is a customs officer journalist and writer. [1] [2]
Hernandez began her sporting career as a BMX racer in international competition [1] [3] before discovering snowboarding. On 21 October 2002 she experienced an attack of multiple sclerosis that paralysed her legs for two months. [3] [4] [5] As a result, she stopped sport and took refuge in writing, publishing two books for Éditions du Rocher and working for Europe 1 (from 2011) and Le Figaro from 2012, covering the 2012 Summer Paralympics in London.
In May 2012, Hernandez arranged an endurance race for both disabled and able-bodied athletes, travelling from Lyon to Bordeaux by bicycle and kayak. [3] Then, in 2013, when she happened to try snowboarding again in the French Alps, she was spotted by a member of the French para-snowboarding team. [3] She was selected for the Paralympic snowboarding team for the Sochi Games in February 2014, with just over a month to prepare, but was encouraged by her performance at the World Para Snowboard World Cup the previous month. [3] She won a silver Paralympic medal at Sochi, with a snowboard cross time of 2:07.31, [1] and was named a knight of the National Order of Merit by then-president François Hollande in June 2014. [1]
In the 2014–15 season, Hernandez won the grand slam with all stages of the World Para Snowboard World Cup in both snowboard cross and banked slalom; leading her first full season gained her a Crystal Globe and she ended the season at La Molina crowned world champion in banked slalom and with a silver medal in snowboard cross. [6] In 2015–16, still competing for the Les Angles team, she won 10 races in the European and World Cups and 2 further Crystal Globes — a gros globe for leading the World Para Snowboard rankings and a petit globe for first place in the banked slalom — as well as the silver medal for snowboard cross. [7]
On 4 February 2017 at Big White, she won another silver medal in snowboard cross, [8] winning the banked slalom silver 3 days later. [9] At the end of the 2016–17 season the following month, with 7 spots on the podium, including 5 victories, she won a third gros globe and both petits globes for snowboard cross and banked slalom. [10]
She joined the France Douanes team on 20 January 2017 with the aim of travelling to PyeongChang as a part of the French Paralympic team for the 2018 Winter games, [11] [2] where she won bronze in the snowboard cross [12] and silver in the banked slalom. [13]
She won the silver medal in the women's dual banked slalom SB-LL1 event at the 2021 World Para Snow Sports Championships held in Lillehammer, Norway. [14] [15] She also won the gold medal in the women's snowboard cross SB-LL1 event. [16] [17]
Hernandez is classified as a SB-LL1 snowboarder. Hernandez learned days before her competition at the 2022 Winter Paralympics that she was allowed to compete. [18] This was previously not permitted as there are no SB-LL1 events for female snowboarders in the snowboarding programme. [19] [20] She won the gold medal in the women's snowboard cross SB-LL2 event. [21] [22] She also competed in the women's banked slalom SB-LL2 event. [22]
Hernandez is married, to Frédéric, with a daughter, Victoire-Eléonore. [23]