Julian Vasey

Although born and raised in Switzerland, Julian Vasey had British heritage and was therefore eligible to represent Great Britain in international competition. Living in Lausanne, it was only natural for Vasey to take up skiing from an early age. He won the slalom at the 1966 Lowlanders’ Championship and the following year uniquely won the combined title at both the British Junior and Senior Ski Championships. Held in the Cairngorms, it was the first time Vasey had skied in Britain and, at the age of 16, he became the youngest British champion since Peter Lunn in the 1930s.

A member of the Downhill Only Club since 1964, Vasey went to the 1968 Grenoble Winter Olympics and regained his British title in 1969. He finished 30th in the combined event at the 1970 World Championships at Val Gardena, Italy, and won that year´s Scottish title. In 1971, Vasey won the overall title at the Lowlanders’ and captained GB to the team title. Sadly, a severed Achilles tendon forced him out of what would have been his second Olympic appearance in 1972, having competed in the Grenoble Games four years earlier.

Vasey worked as a stockbroker, and after a brief spell in the City of London joined a Canadian company and returned to his native Switzerland. He subsequently won the European Stockbrokers skiing title three times. Vasey died tragically at the early age of 29 in a motorcycle accident, only a few kilometres from his Lausanne home.