Akash Aradhya: Training with French stars to incurring Lamborghini-esque expense for Winter Olympics dreams

Akash Aradhya belongs to a generation of short track speed ice skaters from India who have laid a path to follow for the youngsters. Although Aradhya has slim or no chance of qualifying for Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, after being eliminated in the preliminary round of 1000m and 500m events at the World Cup Short Track Speed Skating in Debrecen last month, his journey has been a telling one.

Aradhya began his sporting odyssey as a roller skater. He was, in fact, a part of the national team from 2010 to 2015 besides being the flagbearer for the sport at 2010 Asian Games

However, his tryst with ice skating, began later in 2015 after a first-hand experience followed by insistence from the Ice Skating Association of India.

"In 2015, we went to a very small place in Kolkata. That's where I tried ice-skating for the first time and since then I've been hooked on it. But it used to happen only like 15 days or once in a year depending upon the availability of ice in Shimla. My federation told me that you're doing pretty well and should go for the World Cups," Aradhya told Olympics.com.

It was, then, that the Karnataka-ice skater decided to move to Calgary and began his training under Joffrey Laroque. His training in the formative years at the Olympic Oval also revealed his technical flaws that were later addressed and in process of improvement.

"I was fast and strong but I was not good technically. There were a lot of changes that needed to be made. We used to train on endurance and picking your shoulders really low. Most importantly was my core stability which is still not fixed but it is an ongoing process," Aradhya said.

Later, ahead of PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics, he also trained in Germany but shifted his base to Font-Romeu, one of the oldest ski resorts in France, and is now training with the French national team.

France, incidentally, is the third country that the Indian ice-skater has trained in and it helped him evolve due to his bond with the French stars and close relationship with double-European Championships bronze medallist Sebastien Lepape.

"After Covid-19, I was supposed to go to Calgary but the Olympic Oval was completely shut down. I train in a small village called Font-Romeu in France that's where the French short track national team is based. The coaches Thibaut Meline and Annue Sarrat are great. Sebastian Lepape is an amazing friend of mine and helps me a lot. His inputs on entering and exiting a corner were really helpful," Aradhya said.

However, Aradhya, highlighted that there is a major fix required at grassroot level as he often finds himself devoid of support staff. And besides that the Ice Skating Association of India has only been able to help him with 15 percent of his total expenditure in the last five and a half years which amounts to INR 1 crore approximately.

"There are a lot of things that need to be put in at the grassroot level. A lot of athletes who get selected for the Winter Olympics have a whole system working for them. It's difficult for me to manage everything as a lone person. My only support system is my coaches and parents," the former national champion said.

"I keep telling my friends that if I had saved all this money for six years or so then I could be driving a Lamborghini or something. I try to live a minimalist life because I spend my father's money. Even then it takes like INR 1.5 lakh per month and in the last five and a half years my father has spent around INR 1 crore," he added.