By the age of 16 Claude Trahan was already being recognized as a rising star of the Trois-Rivières Ski Club and, in 1957, he became the Canadian junior champion in the ski jump. He found less success as a senior, however, and did not make the Canadian national team until 1963. He was an alternate at the 1964 Winter Olympics and the 1966 World Championships, but did not compete outside of North America until 1968, when he was selected as an official member of Canada’s delegation to that year’s Winter Games alongside Ulf Kvendbo and John McInnes. One month prior to attending the Olympics he finished fourth at the Canadian National Championships. The Canadian ski jumpers fared poorly at the Games, finishing in the bottom six in both the normal and large hill events, and Trahan’s performance was the weakest, finishing 57th and 58th out of 58 starters in each event respectively. He competed at the 1970 World Championships and continued skiing competitively until his March 1974 retirement. Less than two years later, in December 1975, he was killed in car accident, along with one of his sons, at the age of only 36.
Canada