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

Twelve years later, France has found a successor to Florent Amodio.

Already in the lead at the end of the short program thanks to a new personal best, Adam Siao Him Fa, 21, won the title of European figure skating champion in Espoo (Finland).

The adopted Niçois since last summer (he left Courbevoie to train with Cédric Tour and Rodolphe Maréchal on the Côte d'Azur) became the fifth Frenchman to climb to the top step of the continental podium.

Succeeding Giletti, Calmat, Amodio and a certain Brian Joubert who launched his career at the highest level by coaching him for three years in Poitiers.

⛸ #EuroFigure |

Adam Siao Him Fa is breathtaking tonight 🔥

Author of a high-flying program the Frenchman beats his personal best with a score of 96.53 🇫🇷✅

Le direct ➡ https://t.co/M7XJqjP2lH#Patinage #Espoo2023 pic.twitter .com/A6yXjVlIfS

— francetvsport (@francetvsport) January 25, 2023

Like his eldest in 2004, the young man will therefore have achieved the triple ISU Grand Prix of France, French Championship (after having been the runner-up to Kevin Aymoz for four years) and European Championship… Fourteenth at the Beijing Olympics in 2021 after Having almost not competed due to a positive Covid-19 test upon his arrival on Chinese soil, Siao Him Fa has made good progress in recent months.

Questioning and weight loss

“I've matured a lot in the sense that I'm more or less able to realize and see what I need, what I need to work on,” he explains.

I manage to be a little more independent, not only on the job, but to project myself for the future.

»

Of Mauritian origin, Adam Siao Him Fa was born in Bordeaux.

The youngest of four siblings, who have all multiplied sports activities, put on his first skates in Gironde at the age of four.

Six years later, the closure of his ice rink led him into exile in Haute-Garonne.

210 km to do three days a week for a few months before the family took an apartment in Toulouse to accompany the passion of the youngest during the next five seasons.

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

Then Poitiers, Courbevoie and Nice on the road to Espoo… “After the Olympic Games, I questioned myself a lot about what I needed to progress further, he explained at the start of the competition.

I think I'm on the right path.

I have my place among the best skaters in the world.

I am aware that a European title is a possible and even achievable objective.

It is no longer utopian at all.

» CQFD.

Especially since the Russians, used to monopolizing the podiums, were banned from competition due to the invasion of Ukraine…

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A post shared by Adam Siao (@adam.siao)

On the shores of the Mediterranean, Siao Him Fa has married body and mind.

While losing a little weight, the Habs developed their physical power and began a mental preparation follow-up.

The one who skated to the sound of Star Wars in Beijing also emphasized choreography and continuity in the story (a love that is torn apart) between his two programs (short and free).

A change that has already paid off.

And great promises… with a view to 2026. The Milan-Cortina Olympics are one of Bordeaux's major objectives.

France, crowned in dance with Papadakis and Cizeron in Beijing, has not won an Olympic medal for men since 1998 (bronze of Candeloro in Nagano).