MILOU Vincent

Preferred stance
Regular (theboardr.com, 01 Jan 2021)

General
LIFE-THREATENING INJURY
In December 2020 he suffered a fall while doing a photo session for Thrasher magazine in San Francisco, CA, United States of America. He sustained a fractured skull and a blood clot in the brain. "I was doing a new trick at a legendary spot in San Francisco called Clipper [Ledge]. I succeeded and we got the photo, but we wanted to get another photo from a different angle, so I tried again and this time it went wrong. Instead of rolling into the fall, I hit my head. It wasn't that hard, but the doctors told me it was the wrong place to hit your head. I'd already landed the trick once, so my error was to hold back a bit the second time, and that's where you can hurt yourself. When you try something, you must give 100%, and I didn't. I fractured my skull, near the temple, and I had a blood clot. The doctors told me it was very serious because it was a dangerous place to hit your head. They told me that other people with a similar injury had died from it, so I was lucky." (lequipe.fr, 22 Dec 2020)

LIVING IN THE UNITED STATES
Since 2018 he has divided his time between France and Long Beach, CA, United States of America. He said he did this to increase his opportunities in the world of skateboarding. "It changed my dimension. Suddenly I was skating with the guys from Transworld or from Thrasher [magazines]. Most of the competitions, you are invited because you are known in street, because you did things with magazines, you have notoriety. If you are not appreciated by the world of skate in general, you are not invited and you are nobody. The fact of going there [Long Beach] and doing all that, it opened doors for me to everything I ever dreamed of, magazines, videos. So I had other sponsors." (tellerreport.com, 10 May 2021)

SKATEBOARDING IN THE OLYMPICS
He was initially opposed to the idea of skateboarding being in the Olympic Games, but has warmed to the idea after seeing the impact it has had on the skateboarding scene in France. "To be honest when I first heard about skateboarding being in the Olympics I was a bit like 'naaaaaaa', imagining people skating around in silly numbered bibs. I know it's not very 'cool' but I do believe a lot of really good things are going to come from it. So many sick skateparks have popped up around where I live in the last three years because of that and there used to be [none at] all. Plus it's one of those things that's happening whether you like it or not, [so] you might as well get involved and try to make it as good as it can be rather than complain from the sidelines. The Olympics are not that interesting for skaters, it doesn't change anything at the sporting level. We are not like other athletes who prepare for four years for the Olympics. If we don't go, we miss the opportunity to have a great experience, but in terms of skateboarding, that doesn't change anything." (freeskatemag.com, 24 Sep 2020; london.frenchmorning.com, 16 May 2019)

OCCUPATION
After gaining recognition as an elite athlete by the French government he was entitled to join a part-time work scheme with SNCF, the French national railway network. He began working several days a month, helping with a project to redevelop disused train stations into sports facilities. "The scheme is in place to support athletes, not get in the way of their careers, so I only work the equivalent of four days a month, and it's super interesting. My job is essentially looking for ways to integrate sports facilities into the redevelopment of disused stations all over France. We're in the process of organising for a skatepark to be built right outside a station. I've had talks with people at Nike about building one inside a station. It's not just for skating, it's for all these different sports." (freeskatemag.com, 24 Sep 2020; sncf.com, 16 Jul 2020)