Figure skating: who is Adam Siao Him Fa, the 5th French European champion?

Twelve years later, France found a successor to Florent Amodio. Already leading at the end of the short program thanks to a new personal record, 21-year-old Adam Siao Him Fa won the European Figure Skating title in Espoo (Finland).

Nisois, adopted last summer (he left Courbevoie to train with Cédric Tour and Rodolphe Maréchal on the Côte d’Azur), has become the fifth Frenchman to climb to the top step of the continental podium. They were replaced by Giletti, Calma, Amodio and a certain Brian Joubert, who started his career at the highest level, coaching him for three years in Poitiers.

So, just like his eldest son in 2004, the young man will achieve the triple French Grand Prix, the French Championship (after being runner-up to Kevin Aymoz for four years) and the European Championship… Fourteenth place at the Beijing Olympics in 2021 a year after practically not competing due to a positive Covid-19 test upon arrival in China, Xiao Him Fa has achieved good results in recent months.

Questioning and weight loss

“I have matured a lot in the sense that I am more or less able to be aware and see what I need, what I need to work on,” he explains. I manage to be a little more independent not only at work, but also to plan myself for the future. »

Adam Siao Him Fa of Mauritian origin was born in Bordeaux. The youngest of the four siblings, who multiplied their sports activities, got on his first skates in the Gironde at the age of four. Six years later, the closing of the skating rink led him into exile in the Haute-Garonne. 210 km to travel three days a week for several months before the family rented an apartment in Toulouse to accompany the younger’s passion for the next five seasons.

Bordeaux, Poitiers, Courbevoie, Nice, he traveled a lot…

Then Poitiers, Courbevoie and Nice on the way to Espoo… “After the Olympic Games, I asked myself a lot about what I need to progress further,” he explained at the beginning of the competition. I think I’m on the right track. I have a place among the best skaters in the world. I know that the title of European champion is a possible and even achievable goal. This is no longer a utopia. » Central Federal District. Moreover, the Russians, accustomed to monopolizing the podiums, were removed from the competition due to the invasion of Ukraine …

On the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, Xiao Him Fa united body and mind. After losing some weight, the Hubs developed their physical strength and began the subsequent psychological preparation. The one who skated to the sound of Star Wars in Beijing also emphasized choreography and story continuity (love that gets torn apart) between his two programs (short and free).

A change that has already paid off. And big promises… with an eye on 2026. The Milan-Cortina Olympics is one of the main goals of Bordeaux. France, crowned in a dance with Papadakis and Sizeron in Beijing, has not won a men’s Olympic medal since 1998 (bronze Candeloro in Nagano).