At the end of July, Kim Le Roch became, at 14, the French champion in artistic roller skating, a discipline little known to the general public. Portrait of a young girl from Nice with already affirmed talent.
“Shy,” “reserved”—these are the words to describe Kim Le Roch upon first meeting her. Yet behind this discreet demeanor lies a young girl full of talent. Kim is a 14-year-old teenager full of paradoxes. She hesitates to talk about herself for fear of seeming pretentious, all the while admitting she enjoys telling her story. Isn’t that the paradox of everyone, eventually?
Born in Normandy in a tranquil setting, she comes from a family of four children, one brother and two sisters, including a twin. She discovered sports at a very young age with Vicky, her twin sister. After a brief stint in dance, the twins settled on the ice with artistic skating. However, this wasn’t necessarily her choice. “Initially, I didn’t like it much, but my sister really enjoyed it. […] Then I started to improve, and I really got interested in it.” When she was five, the family moved to Nice.
Ease in skating and at school
Once she got going, Kim displayed the full range of her talent. She began competing at eight. Even though she was guaranteed a podium finish for this first event (only three participants, Ed.), she didn’t hide her delight. The young girl had fun on the ice and forgot all her fears, if only for a moment. “There is a sensation of stress when you start. Then, the program begins, everything fades away, and that’s what I love about this sport.” As days go by, the young athlete performs various artistic movements with astonishing ease.
Besides sports, Kim also excels at school. She skips a grade during this period. In total, she skips three grades, which will weigh on her later. At nine, she returns to Normandy to attend a sports-study program in Caen for two years. Then, she moves to Paris, before returning to the Côte d’Azur. A complicated period, even though the teenager admits she made tremendous progress in Caen. The distance from her family, especially her twin sister, weighed too heavily, affecting her performance. “I didn’t achieve the results I expected. I had many falls during competition programs.”
A disaffection for skating, roller skating as a savior
Kim returns to Nice and continues skating. But gradually, she loses the spark for her sport and decides to quit, tired of the downsides of artistic skating. However, she misses competing. So, she turns to artistic roller skating in 2024. A little-known discipline (only 11,000 licensed in France), yet almost identical to skating, except it’s not on ice but on hard, smooth surfaces like wood floors, resin, or polished concrete.
The adaptation is somewhat tricky, she lost her bearings, and she has to fight. “In the first practice, I arrived, I wasn’t skating well, I didn’t know how to turn. However, I managed to do an axel and a double axel (two figures in skating and artistic roller skating, Ed.), so that was good (laughs).” A mental strength that earns the admiration of those around her. “She is very strong! Despite the challenges, she managed on her own ,” her mother reveals. Ultimately, what Kim appreciates most is the family atmosphere around this sport.
The grand return to competition
She enters competitions a few weeks later, filling a significant void in her life. The conditions are not ideal in this sport, whether in training or competition. Despite this, Kim accumulates successes, supported by her Antibes club and her coaches Julien and Perrine. She wins a competition in Smørum, Denmark. Then she reaches the French championships in Reims, achieving triumph. The girl from Nice finishes first in the In-Line category (artistic roller skating category, Ed.) in the cadet division.
A reward for the teenager. “I was happy to stand on that podium and say that all those years of hard work, waking up early every morning, paid off. However, Kim Le Roch plans to continue on. “When I was on the podium, the man who gave me the medal said: you’ll need to do the same next year. In my mind, I thought: obviously!!”
But before that, thanks to this victory, Kim is qualified for the European Championships in September. “This year, I’d like to reach the top 5.” That’s the ambition of the young athlete. Her longer-term goal is to participate in the World Championships (starting at age 16, Ed.), and she doesn’t intend to go there just to participate.
Kim Le Roch may seem shy and reserved at first glance, but in reality, she is a determined and ambitious champion, eager for success, at just 14.
