This Monday, Valeriia Liubimova arrives at the Hôtel des Bleus looking a little sullen. She has just completed two exams. The student of English and Russian at the university explains: “It was Russian, but there was a question written in French where I didn’t understand anything! “. But very quickly, in very clean French despite a strong accent, the smile and his infectious good humor return when he talks about his week at the Montpellier International Extreme Sports Festival, the 600,000 spectators expected over five days, and its special link with the city of Hérault.
Not just because that’s where the 19-year-old rider competed in her very first international competition, during the 2021 World Championships, where she took a promising eighth place. This is where Liubimova came to take refuge after leaving Russia, with her family, in disagreement with the country’s politics (“my family’s position is opposed to the government”) and following the positive reception of the French Cycling Federation in the summer of 2022. There she found her balance and a life as a high-level athlete.
“When I arrived, I did exercises every day, for 7 months, I had a book with all the French rules. Since then, I haven’t taken any lessons. I’m just living my life. »
“At the beginning, starting to chat with someone was really complicated,” says the woman who learned French in just a few months, always stumbling over the subjunctive. The guys joked a lot about my accent. Now I don’t think about it. When I arrived, I did exercises every day, for seven months, I had a book with all the French rules. Since then, I haven’t taken any lessons. I’m just living my life. »
His 2nd Fise
The French vice-champion will thus participate in her second Fise, the first with the French team jersey and as a local, inevitably a “special” moment. “I don’t know if I feel at home, but now it’s home, I’m happy,” says the double Russian champion. I live here. I have friends, my apartment. But home is also where my parents are and they are not here. » Remaining in Georgia with his little sister and his little brother, they too are starting to build their lives, at school for the siblings, his mother is in training and his father manages his electricity business. Liubimova calls them “almost every day”, often on the way between her apartment in a Crous residence and the university.
She has gotten used to her new rhythm: classes in the morning and training at the France pole, at the Grammont skatepark, in the afternoon. A daily life that changes her from what she experienced in Russia, where she was one of the cycling hopefuls.
“We also had big parks, a routine, training, but the rhythm was different,” points out the woman who was born in Yekaterinburg, near Siberia, before moving to Moscow at 13, where she discovered BMX. We had a lot of training courses, two weeks a month, with the whole team, with two training sessions per day. And then we had two weeks at home, I went to school and I went riding with my friends. It was really a great balance between the life of a top athlete and normal life. In the Moscow region, there are two or three really good, high-level ones, like the Fise skatepark. » Since then, skateparks have continued to grow on Russian territory, where the BMX community has always been active and strong on the international circuit.
French number 2
By returning to the French team last summer, the neo-Frenchwoman, who trains at the France center in Montpellier, also brought competitiveness within the Blues. “It’s good because it brings competition to France,” confirms Laury Perez, quadruple French champion, bronze medalist at the European Championships and third at the World Cup in Montpellier last year. There are more and more French women taking part in competitions. It’s positive because it raises the level and develops the sport. » “She arrived with very good foundations and she is really progressing month by month,” adds Florian Ferrasse, national coach.
Obviously, sometimes, Liubimova is a little homesick, missing her family, music, food or just talking with her friends. In Montpellier, she likes to go for walks on the banks of the Lez, where the Fise takes place, or to… Ikea. “In Russia, a lot of apartments have Ikea furniture, so it reminds me a little of home,” she explains with a smile. And I like the restaurant because there is space, especially for working. Sometimes on weekends, when I’m bored at home, I go to work there, have a coffee. »
This week, the new Frenchwoman is not likely to be bored: exams at the start of the week, several days of competition during the World Cup including the final on Saturday, and volunteering during the Fise. “It was me who asked,” smiles the woman who should be a substitute at the Paris Olympics in 2024 (only Laury Perez, higher ranked, is qualified for the qualifying tournaments for the Olympics in May and June). It’s a little dream for me. Everyone here told me that it’s a unique experience, something to live. Since I live here, I wanted to experience it too. » To become a real Montpellier.
