Adam Siao Him Fa and the journey to unlocking his best self: ‘It’s a lifestyle for me, actually’
The French skater has established himself as one of the best in the world, and will look to successfully defend his European title later this month. He spoke to Olympics.com exclusively.
Figure Skating
There has been no other story quite like that of Adam Siao Him Fa over the last several years in men’s figure skating, the 22-year-old Frenchman now one of the top competitors in the world.
The reigning European champion’s rise is due in part to a mental approach that many athletes spend their entire careers chasing but few are able to wholly adopt.
“I don't want to set limits for myself,” Siao Him Fa tells Olympics.com in a recent exclusive interview in French. “I think limits are in the head and that's what's beautiful about sport: Boundaries are the ones we set for ourselves.”
To watch Siao Him Fa compete since Beijing 2022 is to see this mantra lived out on the ice, no moment better highlighting his approach than his roaring victory at Grand Prix de France in November, his pair of performances helping him to join one of the sport’s most elite clubs.
It was in Angers, France, in front of the home crowd, that Siao Him Fa scored above 100 points in his short program and 200 in his free to total 306.78 overall, making him just the sixth skater ever to break the 300-point barrier.
“I know that I can always push the bar a little higher... it's really a lifestyle for me, actually,” Siao Him Fa says of that moment. “From the moment I tell myself that I have no limits I know that I have a lot of room for improvement.”
Adam Siao Him Fa's ways of change
While Siao Him Fa’s Star Wars short program at the Winter Olympics in 2022 broke the Internet and made him instantly meme-worthy, his dual-edged approach the technical and artistic sides of his skating have helped pave the way to the skater he is today.
“The objective is to be able to bring novelty and creativity to this sport,” he explains. “If I cannot bring it through jumps, [then] I will achieve it in another way, whether through dance, through choreography, through artistic or choreographic jumps. And I want to show that in our sport, it's a sport, yes, but it's also an art and that's what's beautiful about figure skating.”
It was in July of 2022 that Siao Him Fa made a major change to the framework of his skating, moving to Nice, France, to work with coaches Cédric Tour and Rodolphe Marechal. The move also allowed him to work more closely with choreographer Benoit Richaud, who had done his programs since 2020.
His short program to The Prophet is a sweeping, engaging program in which Siao Him Fa says he “dances with ghosts” on the ice, while his medley free skate “tells the story of the beauty of life,” punctuated by a costume layered in flowers.
“The start of the program is quite sad because I try to write my story, but not necessarily in the right way,” he explains. “I'm going through several emotions that are quite melancholic, sad, and so I'm starting over, I'm tearing the page and I want to write my own story.”
The past two years have allowed precisely that for Siao Him Fa: A new writing of a story that he has taken charge of as the author, but also allowed fellow story-tellers like Tour, Marechal and Richaud.
Siao Him Fa has also worked closely with the French skating team in terms of physical and medical treatment, as well as that of a mental coach. The layers of personnel – and his decision to trust in the greater process – have been part of that levelling up of his overall output.
“[Being] well surrounded [helps me to] be in the best possible conditions to be able to reach my goals on the ice,” he says. It allows for Siao Him Fa to “better handle the training load so I can perform at my best in competition.”
On defending his European title - and the 'next step'
While he has been a known quantity on the international skating scene for much of the last five years, Siao Him Fa was climbing the proverbial ladder after a 14th-place finish at Beijing 2022 was followed by an eighth-place performance at Worlds in 2022, in Montepllier, France.
But his true breakout performance came 12 months ago in Espoo, Finland, at the European Championships. A brilliant short program was followed by a staid skate in the free, beating Matteo Rizzo by some eight points to become the first French man since Florent Amodio in 2011 to win the prestigious title.
“Being European champion made me realize that I had my place among the best skaters in the world,” a frank Siao Him Fa admits.
While the placement – and medal around his neck – were impactful, it helped him tap more into that aforementioned “limitless” mindset: Standing atop the podium was only confirmation of what he saw inside of himself.
“This season is a blank page that I'm writing: I'm putting aside everything that happened last season because it is in the past... now it's a new season,” Siao Him Fa says. “I'm starting on a new footing, I've worked hard, I've progressed and I want to win today as Adam Siao Him Fa, the French skater, but not as last year's European champion.
“It's the title of European champion, for me that not a title, it's a step that I've taken. Now I need to take the next step.”
That “next step” includes what he says will be a “fight to keep my title” at Europeans in Kaunas, Lithuania, before he would like to “take my revenge” at the World Championships in March, having been 10th at Worlds in 2023.
He comes off a first half of the season that saw him sweep his two Grand Prix stops, bounce back from a nightmare short program to place fourth at the Grand Prix Final, and then win a second straight French national title just a few weeks ago.
Skating with 'fun like a kid'
While the change of training location, team and mentality have helped, Siao Him Fa has doubled down on two more aspects to help his skating go toepick-to-toepick with the best in the world: His practice approach and how he faces down pressure.
“The training load has really been much more intense,” he says, noting that he’s upped the quantity of repetitions of his workouts, programs and jumps. “We went to a higher stage.”
He’s worked hard to improve and maintain his quadruple Lutzes, which is showcased at the outset of both his short and free skates – though he’s said he’d like to add a quad flip to the short when it’s ready.
“I'm going to continue to prepare myself and my body and my head for those moments,” Siao Him Fa says.
It’s precisely that mentality that has allowed him to not only meet his success directly, but to face it with his shoulders back and down, settling into his new role as one of the chased in a sport that can be pressure packed.
“There is pressure; there is a lot of expectation from the public, from everyone,” he says. “But I'm trying to put that aside and refocus on myself to really perform at my best and kinda leave all these parasitic thoughts [aside].
“This is how I have to live and I have to live the [moments] to the fullest,” Siao Him Fa says, calling back to his performances in Angers for Grand Prix de France.
“I gave it my all and felt really liberated, really relaxed and had fun like a kid.”