Date of birth: 17.10.1977

I started kayaking with my father when I was 8 years old. First he put me in the back of his kayak and I twined my legs around his waist. Then at the age of 10 I began kayaking on my own. Two years later I started at my first competition, a slalom race. But I only did slalom for about two years. After that I went creeking with my Dad and I have been doing this ever since. With my father, however, I only creeked in France. I learned it in Morvan, in a small river that is ideal for practice when you are just a beginner. Later, I creeked in France, Corse and Italy and today I go creeking all over Europe, in fact all over the world.

I normally creek with the same group of friends; people that I’ve met through kayaking or different sports along the way. For my father it has become too hard to join us. The new generation is too tough for him. And the material is now different. Back then the kayaks were much longer, now they are short. Now my father offers different sports activities for the youngsters in our town, like skiing, mountain biking, rafting and so on. And I sometimes teach kayaking. When he takes the kids on rafting trips, I accompany him by kayak as a safety boat.

I work for a small company - we are only four people - that imports and exports machines. I work full days, five days a week. I have a little son, Yanis, who is three years old and my girlfriend and I are currently building a house. In the evenings I go kayaking and on the weekends I go creeking. When it comes to kayaking I live from day to day. I don’t have specific projects in mind. I just love to travel and see where it takes me – whether in France or anywhere in the world. My friends and I always find new places on the internet or in magazines and then we decide to go there and test them. We also meet many people who have paddled rivers before us and they tell us where to go. Of course, I would also love to creek a river for the first time.

To be in a team is really important for me, for many reasons like relationship, ambiance, safety etc. I also think that it is important that global sponsors like adidas get into the sport to draw more attention to us. People see us now differently.

To be on your own is boring. What fascinates me about kayaking is that you meet a lot of people. You travel a lot; you get to know new customs and cultures in different countries, and you are usually in a group. Our sport is a group sport, you just happen to sit alone in your boat but on the river you are never on your own.

Strengths
I don’t like to talk about myself, I prefer to let others judge that.

Weaknesses
Ask my girlfriend