Interview with Kevin Aymoz : Sloppy SP, coffee and a cooking recipe!

December 2024 - We are a few hours away from the men's free program. Kevin is playing at home. This is not just an image. Born in Echirolles twenty-seven years ago, a stone's throw from the ice rink, he first tried his hand at hockey, before turning quickly to figure skating. He was only five years old. He has been crisscrossing the Grenoble ice for twenty-two years. He trains there every day, Pôlesud is his second home, he knows the premises by heart. He laughs: "I feel like I'm hosting international skating at home!" I have barely turned on my microphone when he is already talking, without me asking any questions.

Kevin Aymoz: My short program wasn't a bad program, but the short program is a technical program, as we know. So, when there are none of the three jumps, it’s… [he lowers his voice, rolls his eyes but keeps smiling] un-for-gi-va-ble!

Patinage Magazine: The jumps didn’t go through, but everything else was very clean and very successful. You didn’t give up.

Kevin: No! No way. I got levels 3, 4 and 5 [step sequence and spin]. I didn’t realize it while skating. I made a lot of pure technique mistakes, but I found a lot of positive points in other elements. In the step sequence for example, the angles, the squares, all that stuff, went through like a dream. So I don’t see this SP as a totally bad program. But the components have a factor of only 1.67 compared to 3.33 for the free. So in the short, you can’t mess up because you can’t catch up with it. The margin is ultra tight. I took more of an emotional slap than a technical slap. I perform quads, I miss them all the time, I miss triple Axels less, but hey… No, the problem is being here at Pôlesud, in my own space and wetting myself [he uses a different word than “wet”] in my own space. I say to myself: “you were lucky to be at home, and you didn’t take that chance.” I wanted to take it! But I was too tense [he mimes a tensing of his whole body], really too tight, cramped in my skin! It’s very strange because, before the competition, I wasn’t stressed at all all day. I started to stress only a few minutes into the program. I did a super clean warm-up. But at the start of the program itself, I felt a much more intense energy than usual. I was going faster, I was bigger, I was stronger and… I thought: “There, Kev, you’re overdoing it!!” My brain couldn’t handle it anymore.

P.M.: You got on the quad toe loop very very quickly…

Kevin: The worst thing is that I wasn’t scared at all. I really wanted to do well, really wanted to. And I learned a good lesson. I called my mental trainer before the competition to tell him: “I don’t understand, I usually stress, and now I’m all excited. For ten months, we worked on feelings that I have to manage and that I know. And then, surprise, something new that we’ve never studied! Sh*t, it has to happen now!!” [laughs] He answered me: “it’s normal, it might be a bit hard. Do what you can, we’ll learn from it later”. I take from that that I’m happy to be here. This is the second time I’ve qualified for the Grand Prix Final, others never make it, it’s a crazy opportunity. For me, it’s the cherry on the cake this season. I take all this as a preparatory exercise for the competitions that will follow. At Skate America, I experienced a certain amount of stress, at the Finnish Grand Prix it was a different kind of stress. Here it’s something else again, mixed with a big euphoria because I’m at home. I find myself with a nice range of emotions in my game. I can tell myself: “now you’ve been through several scenarios, you’re mature enough today to handle this calmly”.

P.M.: You’re currently 6th. If we put things into perspective, there are only five skaters ahead of you. It’s not that much. You can seat them all in your car! [laughs]

Kevin: Yes, and it’s a small car!! My partner in life said something really funny to me: “look at them, they’re kids, they look like they’re going to war! Don’t touch the kids! You have the experience now”. But experience is acquired every day, it never stops.

P.M.: You are often in Lausanne. Do you train there?

Kevin: Yes, my boyfriend lives in Lausanne and I thank the city for opening its ice rink to me. I train there all by myself like a big boy. It has given me responsibilities [he says this with a slight self-mockery]. Sometimes I look around me and I tell myself: “Hey, there’s no one around to kick my butt? Well, let’s go, I’ll kick it myself!” I have reduced my training to shorter but more intense sessions. I have managed to fit my previous three hours of training into two fifty-minute sessions. It works very well. When I leave the rink, I have given my best, I feel accomplished and productive. Sometimes, I need a little more time to be sure I am moving forward. And there is also the work here with Françoise [Bonnard], that hasn’t changed.

P.M.: How did you find your music this year? Once again, you wear your heart on your sleeve…

Kevin: I found the music for my short on TikTok! People were dancing to it and it clicked in my mind right away. It was a blast, but the choreography wasn’t at all suitable for skating. I first thought that to skate to it, you had to be an ice dancer and train with I.A.M. [Ice Academy of Montreal]. A few days later, I was at a party… I was drinking tea, I assure you [laughs], and all of a sudden this same music came on. I saw it as a sign, you don’t need to show me things twice! I listened to it again, I sent it to Silvia and John. Are you up for it or not? They are generally up for everything, except once or twice when they put their foot down and said, no, you're crazy! This time, they told me: "Last year you were at your lowest, it needs to be fun, this song is perfect, let's go for it!" You have to listen to the same music ten times a day for a year, so you'd better like it! The one for the free, I also found it on TikTok! It's a really nice little story by the way... The one in the middle [“Hold on Tight” by Thomas Azier], I had known it for a long time, I was already listening to it, and it made my heart beat. But for the first part of the SP, I was sad not to find anything that went with it. And I came across a video of a little girl playing the piano. See, I don't know who she is because we can only see her hands. I hear the melody she's playing, I really like it, and I click "like". Then I look at the name of the account, L….38 [username intentionally not mentioned as she is a minor]. Weird, there can’t be thousands of L….38s. And I know someone with that name in my own club, GIMP! I go to see her and it’s her! She gives me the name of the song, “Van Gogh” by Virginio Aiello and I jump on it! Love at first sight! The last part, “Destiny” by Karl Hugo, was suggested to me by Hugo Chouinard who did the musical editing. The program itself was put together in three days. Silvia thought I was showing too much of myself with these three songs and I asked her to trust me. Because I really felt the thing in me. She very quickly agreed. And listen to that, the composer of the first part, Virginio, contacted me on Instagram! I told him that I hoped to honor his music and transcribe on the ice something that fits his world. He answered me that I was spot on while being myself. I was so proud… I relayed his message to L….38 who became one of his followers and who sent him her own interpretation, which he really appreciated. He congratulated her, she couldn’t believe it! Social networks are magical!

P.M.: You already had a composer who contacted you after you used his music, right?

Kevin: Yes, Jamie from The Irrepressibles for “In this Shirt”. I fell off my chair. This time, same thing! [laughs]

P.M.: We don’t usually talk much about what you do outside of skating, yet you have a life like everyone else. What do you like?

Kevin: Vast subject [laughs]. But actually you're asking me a tricky question, because it's so natural that I don't think about it... Yes, I love to go and drink coffee! The smell of coffee is something charged with emotion for me. I find it reassuring. Maybe it reminds me of my parents when I was little, the smell of coffee at home. I like going to little places that are a bit unusual, with strange dishes, different decors. My partner loves cinema, series, comics, I discovered these worlds thanks to him. Before, I used to go to the cinema with my best friend Margaux very often. Then when I moved to the US, I stopped because for me going to the cinema without her was a nonsense. Now I go with my boyfriend regularly. Oh and I started cooking!! I discovered a passion for it. I have a won-der-ful recipe!!

P.M.: Can you give it to us? [laughs]

Kevin: But yes!! [I'm joking but Kevin is very serious]

[What follows would have deserved to be filmed because he mimes all the gestures with scrupulous application while making little "cooking" noises with his mouth]

It's a leek/onion tart. De—li-cious! [laughs] I make my own dough. I prick it, I prick it, I prick it. Then I put mustard on it, but just a little, really light. Then fleur de sel. Fleur, not regular salt ! Fleur de sel. Fleur-de-sel Kate!! [yours truly is rolling herself on the floor with laughter] That way, when you bite into it, you can feel the little pieces that didn't melt during cooking, it's divine. Then you add pesto.

P.M.: Green or red?

Kevin: I'm on team green, but you do as you like. You cook your leeks in the pan and spread them on the bottom of the tart…

P.M.: Kevin, you realize that I'm really going to publish this recipe in your interview, don't you?

Kevin: But YES, absolutely! Everyone has to try it! I'm telling you it's amazing! But I'm warning you, once you've eaten this, you'd better not kiss anyone! [laughs] We were talking about the leeks… Now you fry a large red onion and two white onions in your pan. Like the leeks, they shouldn't be overcooked, just melted, see-through. You add them and now comes the killer ingredient: you put a drizzle of honey on top. Not much, just so that the vegetables caramelize. Salt, pepper, garlic powder, you put it in the oven until the pastry on the edges is nice and golden. You turn off the oven and leave the tart in it for another five minutes. Five, no more, otherwise it dries out!

P.M.: Mouth watering…

Kevin: Wait, it’s not over yet! You take some balsamic vinegar cream and you drizzle it over the tart. Just a little drizzle everywhere to put on very quickly, funky style, you know? Final touch: a burrata that you put on top while the tart is hot so that it melts a little, a drizzle of olive oil, a little more salt and pepper and tadaaaaa! It’s ready! Wait, I have a photo! I’m sending it to you! [I hear my phone ping]

P.M.: Can I publish it too?

Kevin: Of course! Oh, that’s making me hungry, I want to eat one now! And I’m also making cakes Kate, I’m having a blast like never before!

P.M.: Are you planning to open a restaurant or a cooking blog? [laughs]

Kevin: Oh no, that’s not on the agenda!

P.M.: Speaking of the agenda, good luck with tonight’s free program!

Kevin: It’ll be fine, I’m not worried. I have nothing to lose and I can’t do worse than yesterday!!

Exclusively for you, the photo of the leek/onion tart à la Aymoz! It really looks delicious!