Aurelien Giraud: “Just because I was a world champion it doesn’t mean I’m done”

Aurelien Giraud was three minutes from his home in Lyon when he passed the local golf club.

Having practised it a little with his father when he was younger, the skateboarder decided then and there to pull in and have a go for a laugh with a friend. Expecting his usual excellence on the first strike of the ball, the result was a little less fun and a bit more ego-damaging.

“I couldn’t do it,” the 26-year-old says earnestly, recalling the moment, “and it bothered me.”

Though on the outside the two sports might seem to be worlds apart there are some core similarities.

Golf, like skateboarding, takes place outdoors, is social but mostly individualistic, and at the heart of it, is a pursuit of technical mastery determined by near-microscopic increments. It’s a little wonder why Giraud, one of the prevailing forces on the men’s street skating contest scene, connected with it so quickly.

Almost instantly after his struggles, the Frenchman went to the clubhouse and signed himself up.

“I said I would come every day until I can swing well. And, well now,” he continues with a smile, “I can swing well.”

The anecdote, though something of a side quest to his skateboarding, speaks to the wider transformation journey Giraud has been on in the last year.

After winning the 2023 world title in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, he has found himself coming up short in World Skateboarding Tour finals.

Despite soaring through the early rounds, when the heat has been on in the last eight, he hasn’t been able to deliver. And with increasing attention surrounding him as the home hope for Paris, reconnecting with that positive determination to persist when something is frustrating, is something he says, he’s been working on.

“In Rome… I missed the final. I think I wanted to outbid my run, which wasn't necessarily the right thing to do. And once I knew I'd missed, I knew I couldn't win. As a result, I was a bit disgusted and acted a bit like a capricious child, you could say, because I knew I couldn't win and so I said it's no use if I do it.

“Now, I know that you always have to go for podiums,” the skateboarder says.

“I’ve learned that and I think that, honestly, today, I could say that it's not so bad because I've been world champion. It just goes to show that you have to keep working to keep concentrating, not let go and not give up. Just because I was a world champion it doesn’t mean I’m done.

“You can fall and get back up but sometimes falling even further is better. You have to rebuild yourself again.”

"That's the whole point of skateboarding: you learn and you give back"

Like a scientist locked away in a laboratory hunting for their next breakthrough, Giraud similarly has turned inwards and focused on himself.

Using Lyon’s Gerland skate park as his base, the same place he has been skating in since the age of four, he has spent the last few months toiling away training.

While his peers have been appearing at other prestigious contests, videos of him hard at work instead have peppered his social media.

The process of getting honest with his craft and testing his resilience again are both things the skater has relished but there have been other additional positives in returning to his roots for his rebuild.

As France’s top skateboarding prospect Giraud knows better than anyone that the Paris Olympics will propel him into the public consciousness in a way the sport in the country has never known. And, given how much the occasion could stand to shape his legacy, he has made it one of his priorities to make sure people know it all started at home.

“I've been going there for 21 years now. The cool thing is that the skatepark team is really top-notch. We're really into helping young people help themselves. There's my coach and me, who gives lessons there and, I think it's a good thing for the city of Lyon and young skateboarders.

“The fact that I'm showing that I train there and I've managed to reach this level by training there. I think it can help young people get motivated. That's a good thing,” he continues.

"That's the whole point of skateboarding: you learn and you give back to the young ones. So we give back advice, we give back everything.

“I think that in the years to come, there will be even more beautiful skateparks and I can't wait to see that.”

Aurelien Giraud: Giving glory back to the streets

If stepping in to inspire future generations is one half of the legacy he is trying to shape then the other is his reputation as a street skater.

Renowned for his obsession with big gaps and even bigger staircases, Giraud is all too aware that the streets have been missing him. It’s why, he explains, they’re also part of his post-Paris plans.

“If everything goes well, I should be going to the Paris Olympics and, after that, I’ll have a bit more free time. I’ll be able to slow down on the competitions and devote myself to filming a video part and give a bit of glory back to the streets because at the moment, unfortunately, I’m not able to street skate.

“It’s something I’m very conscious of and it would really mean the world to me to do a real street part, especially in Lyon, to show that it’s not just in the United States and not just in Europe or Japan but that we also have some really cool spots and we can do something beautiful."

Such ambitions, though important, for now, will have to wait.

Up next for Giraud will be the Olympic Qualifier Series in Shanghai, People's Republic of China from 16-19 May.

Having skipped the Tokyo World Championships in December and the latest World Skateboarding tour stop Dubai in March, just what version of Giraud will appear at the Huangpu Riverside will be one of the biggest points of intrigue.

With his progression since his fifth-place finish in Tokyo, Giraud has become France's golden skateboarding hope: expectant eyes will be firmly on him when the high-skates high-octane qualifier gets underway.