Here is the story of a young man whose destiny should have been broken by a fall while skiing, but who decided to take strength from it.
"My name is Florian, I am 30 years old and originally from Oisans, in the French Alps.
I have been passionate about sports since I was young and have practised several, such as skiing, cycling and French boxing. I was also passionate about extreme skiing and practised freeriding and freestyle.
Every winter I was dedicated to my passions, until 2 April 2011, when I fell severely on skis at the age of 19 and suffered a cervical injury, becoming a C6-C7 tetraplegic. However, I decided that this would not stop me from doing what I love and turned my disability into a real strength.
After many months of rehabilitation, effort, learning and resilience, it was natural for me to turn to sport to satisfy my pursuit of speed and a breath of fresh air."
It was natural for him to turn to sport, to hand sports and more specifically to para-cycling and para-triathlon. Constantly pushing himself further, Florian even became, in 2017, the first European tetraplegic to finish an Ironman competition, after 14 hours and 55 minutes of effort, a kind of long-distance triathlon with 3.8 km of swimming, 180.2 km of cycling and 42.195 km of running.
"Thanks to handbike, I discovered a new way of surpassing myself and proving that anything is possible, becoming a top sportsman within the French Cycling Federation and the French Handisport Federation."
Florian's most important handbike achievements include:
Tokyo 2020: individual bronze and gold, silver for the relay
European Championships 2022: gold for the relay, individual gold and silver
World Championships Baie Comeau 2022: silver and now individual, relay gold
Florian has chosen the Aria Speciale as his new wheelchair, a wheelchair that is especially popular with athletes: for the development of the frame of the SPECIALE, the mechanical properties of the magnesium alloy were studied to give the product exceptional qualities of rigidity and smoothness. The responsiveness of the wheelchair and the perceived sensations are similar to sports wheelchairs, such as tennis or basketball wheelchairs, where ease of direction changes and propulsion are prerequisites. The ride comfort of the Speciale is therefore truly unique.
The perfect partner for training towards the next goal: the Paris2024 Paralympics!
We welcome Florian to join the big Aria family and cheer him on for all his future competitions!
