Jean-Charles Valladont on seeing life differently as a first-time father
Jean-Charles Valladont has already experienced enough defining moments across his 18-year senior international archery career to understand what it means for life to change.
It could have been breaking into France’s Olympic team as a teenager for Beijing 2008, serving as the nation’s flagbearer at the Krakow-Malopolska 2023 European Games, most notably reaching the gold medal final at Rio 2016, or winning team silver at his home – and final – Olympic Games in Paris two years ago.
None of those moments, however, compare to becoming a father.
Two weeks ago, Valladont’s life changed in a way no medal or major final ever could.
“Yes luckily!” he joked when asked if he is enjoying his new daily routine as a first-time parent. “I think it might change my life. A lot of things are going to change the level of importance of things.”
Valladont said becoming a father would likely change the way he approaches both the season and the sporting stakes around it, although results still matter deeply to him.
“I still care a lot about the results, but maybe I will have another opinion and more objectivity and perspective.”
“This year I became a dad, I now have important choices to make.”
One of those choices was deciding not to travel to Puebla for the opening stage of the 2026 Hyundai Archery World Cup.
Valladont made France’s senior outdoor team for the 19th time ahead of Mexico but, for only the second time in his career – 2025 being the first – the 37-year-old opted to skip the opening stop of the tour, allowing 17-year-old Raphael Armand to take his place.
Aware of when his daughter would be born, the Rio 2016 silver medallist instead focused on Shanghai and the upcoming European Outdoor Championships in Antalya one week later.
Success in recurve men’s team also remains one of his key objectives for the season.
Although he missed Puebla, Valladont did not allow fatherhood to prevent him from building additional preparation before travelling to Yuanshen Sports Centre.
“She was born on a Sunday and on Monday I was back shooting, so there was no rest,” he said. “I was training at the national performance centre, and the hospital was also in Paris, so for a couple of weeks I split my days between the hospital and the centre.”
Valladont explained that before becoming a father he would usually train from 8h30 to 19h00, but in the weeks after his daughter’s birth he divided his time equally between training and the hospital while preparing for Shanghai and the upcoming European Championships.
“The biggest mental adjustment may only come later in the season because I still don’t know whether I will attend additional World Cup stages,” he added.
At 37, and after announcing before Paris that it would be his final Olympic Games, Valladont is undeniably entering a different stage of his career.
That evolution may also benefit the current generation of French archers, who continue to lean on his experience and his newly acquired perspective as a father.
For years he has been the playful presence within the French team, bringing energy and humour to the shooting line, and that side of him remains unchanged. Yet there is now a different dimension to Valladont that teammates are beginning to discover more often.
Archery remains an intensely individual sport, even within team competition, where athletes must focus entirely on their own execution.
Valladont will still aim to add as many podium finishes to his résumé as possible, but proudly representing his growing family alongside France has now become equally important.
In Shanghai, competition resumes for Valladont tomorrow morning against Dastan Karimov in the recurve men’s 1/16 round as he chases a place in the final four.
