Vincent Luis

The Frenchman’s journey to the top has been a long one and involved plenty of twists and turns along the way, but once he cracked the code to success he has proven to be an unstoppable force.

Vincent grew up in the small French town of Vesoul, and developed a love for swimming along with his friends who began splashing around and having fun in a neighbour’s pool, but progressed to racing each other.

His prowess in the water quickly made him stand out from the rest and competitive swimming began to play a big part in Vincent’s life. That was until the relentless grind of being in the water started to take its toll and he sought inspiration elsewhere.

Watching a local triathlon group train in the pool piqued his interest, but the big turning point came in 2004 when he watched triathlon in the Athens Olympics, where Hamish Carter picked up the gold medal. At that stage he knew where he wanted to go with his career.

Vincent took to the sport quickly and found himself posting a string of impressive results in local races. He had a watershed moment when his father handed him the money he had saved for his university education to move away from home to a permanent training base and life as a pro athlete. Vincent knew he had to deliver.

But the path to success was a long one. Up and down progression marked his formative years, as well as battles with injury and the death of one of his closest friends, fellow pro athlete Laurent Vidal.

After enjoying his Olympic debut in London in 2012, comparative failure with a seventh place finish at the 2016 Olympics in Rio left Vincent questioning himself and set up a quest for answers. He doubled down on his training, moved to work under top coach Joel Filliol and totally dedicated himself to triathlon. The results have been spectacular.

Super League Triathlon provided a significant springboard with Vincent dominating the 2018/19 season, taking wins in Jersey, Malta and Mallorca and overcoming a puncture in the finale in Singapore to take the overall crown.

He backed that up with a further two wins later in 2019 at the events in Jersey and Malta.

His new found confidence paid off and in 2019 Vincent was crowned ITU World Champion, an honour he secured again in the one-off Hamburg race of 2020. He has also picked up a number of Mixed Relay crowns with France, and heads into 2021 with the goal of becoming the first person ever to win the Olympics, ITU and Super League titles in a single year.

Vincent lives and trains in Girona with his girlfriend, USA professional triathlete Taylor Spivey.