Kevin Aymoz welcomes world's best figure skaters to home Grand Prix Final: "It feels like I’m hosting a pyjama party"
The French skater returns for his career's third Grand Prix Final to the same rink where he first picked up the sport more than two decades ago. His sister and students are among the event's volunteers.
Figure Skating
Kevin Aymoz first came to skate at the Patinoire Polesud arena in Grenoble, France, as a five-year-old. Now he is bringing everyone along for the ride as he competes at the 2024 Grand Prix Final, his family and friends in the stands and his sister by the ice as a volunteer.
Not to mention the world’s best figure skaters, who will be there as well.
“I’m happy to have my friends in my rink. It feels like I’m hosting a pyjama party!” a giddy Aymoz said after his training session at the arena where he has skated nearly every day for the last 23 years.
Aymoz first came to the rink that is hosting this year’s Grand Prix Final in 2001, carrying a pair of ice hockey skates. His coach had sent the young boy there to improve his skating skills.
Fast forward two decades and Aymoz’s skating skills have earned him five national titles, a bronze at the 2019 Grand Prix Final and a spot at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games, albeit in a different looking pair of footwear.
The arena has also gone a transformation since then. The exact area where Aymoz went to his skating lessons has been converted into a press conference room for the Grand Prix Final and the walls he has passed for years on the way to the locker room are decked out in promotional posters.
“I’m super lost,” Aymoz laughed of his home arena’s new look, before adding. “I’m proud to see the rink like that.”
“Same rink, but with a beautiful dress.”
Aymoz’s family and friends will get to enjoy the arena's make-over as well. He secured tickets for all of them, though his sister ended up not needing one as she will be working as a volunteer, touching up the ice after the programs.
She was near the boards on Wednesday, 4 December too as Aymoz trained his short program and added her applause to that of fans too eager to wait for Thursday’s competition start.
“I am trying to just take all the energy I can take,” Aymoz said. “(To) not be under the wave. I’m trying to surf on the wave of this energy and I’m super excited. You cannot imagine how excited I am right now.”
The Grenoble force behind Aymoz's skates
Aymoz’s upcoming appearance at his career’s third Grand Prix Final is not only special for his family and friends, but also for the local skaters who often share the ice with him.
His skates will be a personal experience for them too, particularly for one of the skaters who inspired Aymoz in his program choices this season. The Beijing 2022 Olympian saw a TikTok video of the girl playing Virginio Aiello’s “Van Gogh” on the piano and liked the song so much, he included it as the opening notes of his free skate. It was the last missing puzzle in the program.
“She was so proud and every time I practise – because she’s practising at the same time as me – she’s like, 'Are you doing the long today?' I’m like, 'Yes, I am today'," Aymoz said. "She’s really proud.”
Like his sister, many of the skaters Aymoz regularly sees at his home rink are also volunteering at the competition. This includes Ninon Dapoigny and Mila Bertsch who competed at the Junior Grand Prix this season. Aymoz helped to choreograph their programs and is thrilled that they will get to see the best of figure skating on home ice.
“I feel like I’m doing the final with them," Aymoz said. "They can see the world level so I’m proud they can see it and see what’s the future for them and being like, ‘OK, what’s the level of the girl I have to (reach)?’. I’m happy for them. It’s a big chance for the kids.”
Although now a veteran who counts those top skaters among his friends, Aymoz can relate to those star-struck feelings of his younger rink mates. He recalled how, as a young boy, he was sitting on the boards at the Patinoire Polesud while Olympic medallist Asada Mao was training there for three days.
“I was so pissed! I was like, 'Who is she, taking my ice?'" Aymoz said with a laugh. "I had to leave the ice because she had to practise and I was so mad. I was like, 'Who is she? I want to skate!' And after I saw her at the Olympics, I was like, 'Oh, wow, OK'.”
With the way the French skater's season has been going so far, fellow Grenoble locals might be saying “oh wow” at the end of his programs this week as well.