Jean Charles Valladont on viewing life differently as a first time father
Jean-Charles Valladont has already achieved enough in his 18-year-long senior archery career to warrant the acknowledgment of life-changing moments.
It could’ve been when he broke into the French Olympic team for the first time as a teenager for Beijing 2008, being France’s flagbearer at the Krakow-Malopolska 2023 European Games, most notably when he reached the gold medal final at Rio 2016 or winning team silver at his home - and very final - Games in Paris two years ago.
None of these, however, can compare to the feeling of being a new father, which two weeks ago changed Valladont’s life more than anything.
“Yes luckily!” he joked when asked if he’s 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.”
“I think I will anticipate and think about the season differently and the sporting stakes. It doesn’t mean for me that the result will be less important, I still care a lot about the results, but maybe I will have another opinion and more objectivity, relativity.”
“This year I became a dad, I now have important choices to make.”
One of those choices was choosing not to go to Puebla, stage one of the 2026 World Cup.
Valladont made France’s outdoor team for the 19th time before Mexico but, for only the second time in his career - 2025 was the first - the 37-year-old opted to skip the opening stop of the tour, allowing 17-year-old archer Raphael Armand to take his place.
Aware of the time his daughter would be born, the Rio runner-up instead targeted the block of Shanghai and the upcoming European Outdoor Championships in Antalya, which follows action in China one week after.
Triumphing in the recurve men’s team event is also a key target.
Although he missed Puebla - stage one of the 2026 World Cup - the Lilleshall 2023 European Grand Prix champion didn’t allow fatherhood to stop him getting extra preparation under his belt before travelling to the Yuanshen Sports Centre.
“She was born on a Sunday, and Monday I was shooting so no rest. I was practising at the national performance centre - or Institut National du Sport, de l'Expertise et de la Performance - in Paris and the hospital was in Paris so for a couple of weeks I did half a day at the hospital and half a day at the centre, I could get there via the Metro.
“Before being a dad I used to shoot from 8h30 to 19h00, then for one week I did the half-half. There is one week between Shanghai and the European Championships.”
“I think the big change mentally will be after the European Championships because I still don’t know if I'm going to other World Cups,” he added.
After being such — and still is — a prominent figure in French archery over the last two decades, and his announcement before Paris that it would be his final hurrah at an Olympics, at 37 years of age it does feel like he is in the twilight of a fantastic career.
But that is also an advantage for the current crop of French archers, to lean on Valladont’s experience and his newfound relativity as someone with the perspective of a father.
For years he has been the joker, the playful character of the team, and still is doing that on the shooting line, but there is now a different side to him that nobody has come across before.
Archery is a selfish sport in some ways, where in team events for spells you still must only focus on your shot and nobody else’s to stay consistent.
Valladont will, of course, still be looking to add as many podium finishes to his resume as possible, but proudly representing his newly growing family on top of himself and country is now the priority.
He shoots to reach the recurve men final fours tomorrow mornning against Dastan Karimov in the 1/16 round.
