Kévin_Aymoz

Kévin Aymoz

Kévin Aymoz

French figure skater


Kévin Aymoz (French pronunciation: [ke.vin e.moz]; born 1 August 1997) is a French figure skater. He is the 2019–20 Grand Prix Final bronze medalist, a five time ISU Grand Prix medalist, and a four-time ISU Challenger Series medalist (including gold at the 2022 Warsaw Cup). He was champion of the 2022–23 Challenger Series. Domestically, he is a five-time French national champion (2017, 2019–2022).

Quick Facts Born, Hometown ...

Aymoz represented France at the 2022 Winter Olympic, where he finished twelfth. He has placed as high as fourth at the World Championships (2023), and twice finished fourth at the European Championships (2019, 2023).

Career

Early years

Aymoz began learning to skate in 2003.[1] He became the French national junior bronze medalist in the 2012–2013 season and repeated the following season.

2014–2015 season: Senior international debut

Aymoz started the 2014–2015 season on the junior level, winning gold at the Lombardia Trophy and bronze at the International Cup of Nice. Making his senior international debut, he finished eighth at the 2014 NRW Trophy at the end of November. He placed fifth on the senior level at the French Championships, held in December, before winning the national junior title in February 2015. Aymoz ended his season with a senior international medal, silver at the Coupe du Printemps in March.

2015–2016 season: Junior Grand Prix debut

Early in the season, Aymoz was coached by Véronique Cartau, Bernard Glesser, and Jean-François Ballester in Grenoble.[2] His ISU Junior Grand Prix debut came in late August 2015; he placed fourth at his sole assignment, in Riga, Latvia. After winning the senior bronze medal at the Lombardia Trophy in September, he made his first appearances on the ISU Challenger Series (CS), placing seventh at the 2015 Tallinn Trophy in November and twelfth at the 2015 Golden Spin of Zagreb in December.

In February 2016, Aymoz won his second French national junior title.[3] In March, he represented France at the 2016 World Junior Championships in Debrecen, Hungary; he qualified for the free skate by placing fifth in the short program. He finished ninth overall after placing eleventh in the free skating. By the end of the season, he was training in both Grenoble and Annecy, overseen by Cartau, Didier Lucine, Claudine Lucine, and Sophie Golaz.[4]

2016–2017 season: First national title

In the first half of the season, Aymoz was coached by Didier Lucine, Sophie Golaz, and Véronique Cartau in Annecy.[5] In December 2016, he won the French national title. On 16 January 2017, the FFSG reported that Aymoz had decided to return to Grenoble and that the federation had sent Katia Krier for the intermediary period.[6] He placed fifteenth at the 2017 European Championships in Ostrava, Czech Republic.

2017–2018 season

During the season, Aymoz trained with Katia Krier in Paris and with John Zimmerman in Tampa, Florida.[7] He took gold at the Denkova-Staviski Cup and finished tenth at his debut Grand Prix event, the 2017 Internationaux de France. His season ended after he finished second to Chafik Besseghier at the French Championships.

2018–2019 season: Second national title

At his first event of the season, the 2018 CS Autumn Classic International, Aymoz placed eighth in the short, third in the free, and fifth overall.

Aymoz received two Grand Prix assignments, the 2018 Skate Canada International and 2018 Internationaux de France. He placed seventh and fifth, respectively. At the year's close, Aymoz won his second French national title.

At the 2019 European Championships, Aymoz placed fourth in both the short program and free skate, finishing fourth overall, and only 0.74 points behind bronze medalist Matteo Rizzo of Italy.[8] At the 2019 World Championships in Saitama, Japan, he placed eleventh, setting a new personal best in the short program and total score.

2019–2020 season: Grand Prix Final bronze

Aymoz at the 2019 Internationaux de France

Aymoz again began his season on the Challenger series at the 2019 Autumn Classic International, where he won the silver medal with second-place finishes in both segments. Aymoz landed two quads in a free skate for the first time.[9]

On the Grand Prix, Aymoz competed first at the 2019 Internationaux de France, where a fall on his combination attempt in the short program left him in third place, distantly behind Nathan Chen and Alexander Samarin but only a few points ahead of Shoma Uno.[10] He placed second in the free skate, behind Chen, winning the bronze medal overall.[11] Aymoz then continued this successful streak by winning silver at the following NHK Trophy and thereby qualifying for the Grand Prix Final. He was second in the short program behind Yuzuru Hanyu, making only a small error on his quad toe loop, and third in the free skate behind Hanyu and Roman Sadovsky.[12][13] Competing at the Final, Aymoz placed third in the short program, skating cleanly despite a musical mishap that initially played the music of competitor Dmitri Aliev.[14] Third in the free skate as well with only one error with a fall on an underrotated quad toe, he won the bronze medal, the first Frenchman to medal at the Final since Brian Joubert in 2006.[15]

After winning the French national title again, Aymoz headed into the 2020 European Championships as one of the favourites to take the title. However, in what commentators dubbed "a day to forget" for the skater, all three of his jumping passes failed in the short program.[16] He placed twenty-sixth in that segment, failing to qualify for the free skate, to the "shock" of much of the audience.[17] This proved to be Aymoz's final competition for the season, as the World Championships in Montreal were cancelled as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.[18]

2020–2021 season

With the pandemic continuing to affect international travel, the ISU opted to assign the Grand Prix based mainly on geographic location, with Aymoz being assigned to the 2020 Internationaux de France. However, this event was subsequently cancelled.[19] In February, Aymoz won his fourth national title.[20] On 1 March, he was named to the team for the 2021 World Championships.[21]

Competing in Stockholm, Aymoz placed ninth in the short program.[22] Ninth in the free skate as well; he held ninth place overall.[23] Aymoz's result qualified one men's berth for France at the 2022 Winter Olympics, and the possibility of a second to be earned later.[24] He was subsequently announced as part of the French team for the 2021 World Team Trophy.[25] On 8 April, he was named as team captain. Aymoz placed fourth in both the short program and the free skate, while Team France finished in fifth place.[26][27][28]

2021–2022 season: Beijing Olympics

Aymoz recruited hip hop choreographer Mehdi Kerkouche to work on his programs for the new season, seeing someone from outside the skating world bring an "unexpected" perspective. Due to a case of athletic pubalgia, he was unable to practice on ice for two months, resuming training three weeks before Master's de Patinage, where he attempted less than his normal technical difficulty and won the bronze medal.[29] He subsequently attempted to compete at the 2021 Skate America but withdrew after falling on all three jumping passes in the short program, citing his injury.[30] He was ninth at the 2021 Internationaux de France, skating with reduced technical content.[31]

After winning the French national title, Aymoz was named to the French Olympic team. Competing at the 2022 European Championships, he was tenth in the short program but rose to fourth in the free skate, finishing seventh overall.[32]

Competing at the 2022 Winter Olympics, Aymoz placed tenth in the short program of the men's event, despite tripling a planned quad Salchow jump.[33] Jump errors in the free skate saw him rank fifteenth in that segment, but he finished twelfth overall.[34] He was eleventh at the 2022 World Championships to conclude the season.[35]

2022–2023 season: Top 5 at World

After a difficult Olympic season, Aymoz contemplated whether he had the desire to continue for another four years to the 2026 Winter Olympics. He said he "took a summer break–reading books and watching TV shows. And then I was like: Okay, I'm ready to go again."[36] For his free program for the season, he drew inspiration from Madeline Miller's novel The Song of Achilles, about the relationship between Achilles and Patroclus. Using primarily music from Gladiator, he explained, "my story is not about gladiators, but the music touches my heart, and it's the story of two people fighting for love."[37]

Aymoz began the new season in September at the 2022 U.S. Classic. After winning the short program, placing ahead of American rising star Ilia Malinin, he finished second in the free skate and overall.[36] He then traveled to France to compete at the Master's de Patinage but sustained an ankle injury while there and had to withdraw from the 2022 Grand Prix de France. After six weeks of recovery, he came back to win his first Challenger gold medal at the 2022 Warsaw Cup.[38][39] The following week at 2022 Grand Prix of Espoo, he again won the short program over Malinin, despite not yet attempting any quad jumps post-injury.[38] He was third in the free skate and won the bronze medal overall, a result of which he said he was "really proud."[40][37]

At the French championships, Aymoz finished second behind Adam Siao Him Fa.[41] He then competed at the 2023 European Championships, coming fourth in the short program after singling his triple Axel attempt.[42][43] He was fourth in the free skate as well, and finished fourth overall, 7.09 points behind Swiss bronze medalist Lukas Britschgi.[44][45]

Aymoz finished fifth in the short program at the 2023 World Championships in Saitama, saying that he had entered the competition without any "special goals" as to his placement, adding "I just want to be here and enjoy myself."[46] He went on to finish fourth in the free skate, setting a new personal best score in the segment, and finishing fourth overall. He was less than sixth points behind American bronze medalist Ilia Malinin.[47] This was the best world results for a Frenchman in eleven years, since Brian Joubert's 4th place in 2012. Subsequently, Aymoz was named for the second time in a raw captain of the French team at the 2023 World Team Trophy. He set a new personal best score of 100.58 in the short program, finishing third in the segment and clearing the 100-point threshold for the first time in his career, which he celebrated.[48] He came fourth in the free skate adding back two quads for the first time of the season, while Team France finished fifth overall at the event.[49]

2023–2024 season

Aymoz began the season at the 2023 Autumn Classic International, winning the silver medal.[35] He was invited to participate in the Japan Open as part of Team Europe. He came fourth of six in the men's event, while the team won the bronze medal.[50] On the Grand Prix, Aymoz won the silver medal at the 2023 Skate America.[51] He went on to take the bronze at the 2023 Grand Prix of Espoo, recovering from short program errors that had seen him place fifth in that segment. He revealed afterward that he was working toward reintroducing the quad Salchow into competition, wanting to return to performing two quad types.[52]

Qualifying to the 2023–24 Grand Prix Final, Aymoz finished fifth in the short program, his lone mistake being a foot down on the landing of his triple Axel. He had a poor free skate, falling three times, and dropping to sixth place.[53] He then returned to France for the national championships in Vaujany, where he came second in the short program, but a "catastrophe" in the free skate saw him tenth in that segment, and drop to seventh place overall.[54]

Despite his lower national championship ranking, Aymoz was sent to the 2024 European Championships in Kaunas. His struggles continued, and he placed thirty-first in the short program, failing to qualify for the free skate.[55] Afterward, he announced his withdrawal from the 2024 World Championships and all other competitions for the rest of the season, citing a need to work on his mental health and prepare for the next two seasons.[56]

Personal life

Aymoz is openly gay and was among the six French LGBT athletes featured in the documentary We Need to Talk.[57][58]

Awards

Kevin Aymoz has been nominated two times to the new ISU Skating Award.[59]

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Programs

Aymoz performing short program at the 2019 Internationaux de France
Aymoz at the 2019 Internationaux de France
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Competitive highlights

Aymoz (right) with Nathan Chen (center) and Alexander Samarin (left) at the 2019 Internationaux de France
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Detailed results

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Senior level

  • Medals at team events are awarded for the team result only. The individual placements at the ISU World Team Trophy are listed in parentheses.
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Junior level

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References

  1. "Kevin AYMOZ: 2018/2019". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 12 February 2019.
  2. "Kevin AYMOZ: 2015/2016". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 1 October 2015.
  3. Bénéat, Laurent (29 February 2016). "Confirmation et révélation". La Nouvelle République (in French). Archived from the original on 16 March 2016.
  4. "Kevin AYMOZ: 2015/2016". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 27 May 2016.
  5. "Kevin AYMOZ: 2016/2017". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 28 September 2016.
  6. "Kevin AYMOZ à Grenoble" [Kevin Aymoz in Grenoble] (PDF) (in French). Fédération Française des Sports de Glace. 16 January 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 September 2017.
  7. "Kevin AYMOZ: 2017/2018". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 29 May 2018.
  8. Slater, Paula (January 26, 2019). "Fernandez snags seventh consecutive European title". Golden Skate.
  9. Slater, Paula (November 1, 2019). "USA's Nathan Chen leads men in Grenoble". Golden Skate.
  10. Slater, Paula (November 22, 2019). "Hanyu takes 18-point lead at NHK Trophy". Golden Skate.
  11. Slater, Paula (23 November 2019). "Hanyu wins fourth NHK Trophy title with 55 points to spare". Golden Skate.
  12. Slater, Paula (5 December 2019). "USA's Chen "very happy" with score at Grand Prix Final". Golden Skate.
  13. Slater, Paula (December 7, 2019). "USA's Chen wins third consecutive Grand Prix Final title". Golden Skate.
  14. Slater, Paula (22 January 2020). "Brezina: 'Maybe it is a 'bye-bye' and maybe not'". Golden Skate.
  15. "Mondiaux: La Sélection Française" [Worlds: The French Selection] (in French). Fédération Française des Sports de Glace. March 1, 2021.
  16. Slater, Paula (March 25, 2021). "Hanyu rocks out in Stockholm". Golden Skate.
  17. Slater, Paula (March 27, 2021). "Nathan Chen takes third consecutive world title". Golden Skate.
  18. Slater, Paula (April 15, 2021). "2021 World Team Trophy: Day 1". Golden Skate.
  19. Slater, Paula (April 16, 2021). "2021 World Team Trophy: Day 2". Golden Skate.
  20. Slater, Paula (April 17, 2021). "2021 World Team Trophy: Day 3". Golden Skate.
  21. Slater, Paula (October 24, 2021). "USA's Zhou prevails at Skate America". Golden Skate.
  22. Slater, Paula (November 20, 2021). "Japan's Kagiyama obtains goal at Internationaux de France". Golden Skate.
  23. Slater, Paula (January 14, 2022). "Russia's Kondratiuk: 'That was unexpected!'". Golden Skate.
  24. Slater, Paula (February 8, 2022). "USA's Nathan Chen storms to lead in Beijing". Golden Skate.
  25. Slater, Paula (February 10, 2022). "USA's Nathan Chen takes Olympic gold in Beijing". Golden Skate.
  26. "Competition Results: Kevin AYMOZ". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 23 September 2018.
  27. Cloutier, Claire (September 28, 2022). "U.S. Classic: A Look Back at Lake Placid". A Divine Sport.
  28. Slater, Paula (November 26, 2022). "Malinin pockets another gold in Espoo". Golden Skate.
  29. "2022 Warsaw Cup – Poland". International Figure Skating.
  30. "Premier titre pour Adam Siao Him Fa, sacré champion de France" [First title for Adam Siao Him Fa, crowned French champion]. L'Équipe (in French). December 17, 2022.
  31. Slater, Paula (January 25, 2023). "France's Adam Siao Him Fa takes convincing lead at Europeans". Golden Skate.
  32. Slater, Paula (January 27, 2023). "Adam Siao Him Fa of France strikes gold at Europeans". Golden Skate.
  33. Slater, Paula (March 23, 2023). "Shoma Uno leads in Saitama". Golden Skate.
  34. Slater, Paula (March 24, 2023). "Shoma Uno skates to second World title". Golden Skate.
  35. Mitsuoka, Maria-Lauria (April 13, 2023). "Team USA takes lead at World Team Trophy". Golden Skate.
  36. Mitsuoka, Maria-Lauria (April 16, 2023). "Team USA takes fifth World Team Trophy". Golden Skate.
  37. Slater, Paula (October 22, 2023). "'Quad God' Malinin takes second Skate America title". Golden Skate. Retrieved November 24, 2023.
  38. Slater, Paula (November 18, 2023). "Kao Miura captures first Grand Prix gold in Espoo". Golden Skate. Retrieved November 24, 2023.
  39. Slater, Paula (December 10, 2023). "Ilia Malinin ups the ante at the Grand Prix Final". Golden Skate. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
  40. "Adam Siao Him Fa encore champion de France, catastrophe pour Kevin Aymoz" [Adam Siao Him Fa is again French champion; catastrophe for Kevin Aymoz]. Le Dauphiné libéré (in French). December 14, 2023. Retrieved December 16, 2023.
  41. Slater, Paula (January 12, 2024). "Adam Siao Him Fa defends European title". Golden Skate. Retrieved January 22, 2024.
  42. "Usé mentalement, l'Isérois Kevin Aymoz met un terme à sa saison" [Mentally worn out, Isérois Kevin Aymoz puts an end to his season]. Le Dauphiné libéré (in French). January 19, 2024. Retrieved January 23, 2024.
  43. Buzinski, Jim (2021-06-21). "6 French athletes, including 3 Olympians, come out for Pride". Outsports. Retrieved 2021-07-29.
  44. "Kevin AYMOZ: 2022/2023". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 29 November 2022.
  45. "Kevin AYMOZ: 2021/2022". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 26 October 2021.
  46. "Kevin AYMOZ: 2020/2021". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 1 October 2021.
  47. "Kevin AYMOZ: 2019/2020". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 31 October 2019.
  48. "Kevin AYMOZ: 2016/2017". International Skating Union. Archived from the original on 21 May 2017.

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