He was a skiing innovator. He honed his revolutionary aerodynamic "egg position" (French: "dite de l'œuf") now known as The Tuck - a lower stance in which he squatted down with knees bent, arms outstretched and fists clasped together, in a bid to increase his speed. He also was the first to race on metal skis ("skis métalliques Rossignol"), on which he won the downhill at the 1960 Winter Olympics. The tenth racer on the course, he won by a full half-second.