LUIS Vincent

General
FROM FRANCE TO USA
In 2018 he decided to leave Reims, France and relocated to the United States of America to join the training group of coach Joel Filliol. He believes the switch has helped him improve his performances. "Everything was going well in Reims but I felt I wasn't moving forward and I needed something new to give me a boost. Either I leave or I quit. I was not having fun in training anymore and I'd lost the motivation to work hard and didn't care. When you are fed up with something, you only see the flaws and you get irritable with training partners even though there aren't any issues. The real problem was the routine, which was imposed too much. I knew that I still hadn't reach my limits and I knew I could improve more. I just needed a new work flow. I needed to take risks. I took some time off in spring 2018 and I asked myself, 'I'm nearly 30, what else can I do that I have not done yet? What do I want to do?' I'm not married, I don't have kids, so I had to try and get out of the comfort of my training group to shake things up. I think the biggest change is that I'm now training with triathletes. Before, I was training with athletes who specialised in their respective sports. I'm training along with the best triathletes in the world, such as [Spaniard] Mario Mola. It's really reassuring to know that those guys are doing the same things as you do." Since moving to the United States of America, he stays in Flagstaff, AZ during the international triathlon season and spends the rest of the year in Girona, Spain. (olympics.com, 14 May 2021; tokyo2020.org, 20 Jan 2021; superleaguetriathlon.com, 01 Jan 2021)

DOCUMENTARY SERIES
In May 2021 it was announced that he will be the subject of a multi-part documentary series by Super League Triathlon named 'Invincible'. Filming started in early 2021 and the series will document his life throughout the year. "I wanted to do something nobody had done before in triathlon. We have videos of people training and we have videos of people making espressos in the kitchen, but we wanted to have a really behind the scenes, emotional-centred video. We picked a good crew. Some days I wasn't even aware they were around as they were so discreet. It's not Olympics centred but really a year in the life documentary. For the races like Super League, when we have more freedom, we will go really behind the scenes to show everyone how it is to race around the world, to travel, and also work on live data for the races. I hope it's going to show people what we do and not just a race every two months. It's about the process and behind the scenes. If you want to know how triathletes train, go on Strava or socials and you will see what they want to show you, but I think the most important thing is to learn who we really are." (superleaguetriathlon.com, 06 May 2021)

INSPIRING TRIP
After finishing seventh at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, he became uncertain about the direction his career was taking, but gathered motivation from a trip to Africa. "After Rio I was not at the bottom but I had plenty of questions regarding my career. My coach and I then decided to go on a trip to Iten, Kenya to see what it really is to live in tough conditions. I returned from this trip with a big motivation to fight. It helped me to put things in perspective and realise that life does not end after a seventh place at the Games." (lequipe.fr, 04 Sep 2020)

TRAINERS COLLECTOR
He is a passionate collector of trainers. "It's my thing, to buy sneakers, mainly those that are rare. I've got more than 200 pairs at home." (lequipe.fr, 04 Sep 2020)