DUCARROZ Nikita

General
VARIED STYLE
She says she has a mixed style that she believes will appeal to judges. "I have a mixed style because there are girls who jump so high and others who do bigger tricks, while I do a mix of both and I think judges like it. I always have fear while on the bike. I think I could do more tricks if I didn't have this fear. So, it is always an inside battle of going for it without thinking too much about it. But I cannot explain the feeling when I manage to perform a trick that had taken so much time of practising." (rts.ch, 09 May 2021)

DEALING WITH ANXIETY
During her teenager years she struggled with anxiety, which sometimes made her afraid of leaving her home. "When I was 13 or 14 I reached a point in which I couldn't leave home anymore. I couldn't go to school or anywhere else. I was terrified." BMX helped her to overcome this situation. "[Practising BMX] was the best decision I have ever made. It not only helped me to become stronger, it obliged me to leave home and to improve my life in general." She says that being able to talk about her situation helped her to improve, and that may also help other people who are experiencing similar issues. She also launched, alongside a friend, an initiative called M1ndtricks on social media to encourage people to talk about mental health. "The fact of talking about it actually made my anxiety go down. If that worked for me that way, it can also be used the same way with other people. I have an awesome life but I want to show others that not everything is perfect. [With M1indtrick] we want to make athletes aware of it and encourage them to tell their stories. It goes very slow but I don't know exactly where we are heading to with it. But we will give it a try." (olympics.com, 21 Apr 2020)

HERITAGE
She was born in Nice, France, to a Swiss father and a US mother, and grew up in California in the United States of America. (rts.ch, 09 May 2021, 07 Jun 2021; radiolac.ch, 24 Jun 2021)