Arthur Prevost’s profile is one of a kind. A few weeks ago, the 27-year-old signed for Floirac, a Fédérale 1 club. Nothing out of the ordinary so far. Except that the south-west native isn’t a rugby player. He arrives from… bobsleigh. A player with an imposing frame, Arthur Prevost is a genuine gamble.
Spotted by coach Christophe Hamacek, the athlete stunned everyone in the physical testing. As quick as Louis Bielle-Biarrey, if not quicker, and blessed with just as remarkable a strength, Prevost deserves to be known.
A former track and field athlete, in the decathlon above all, the new rugby man should have been at the next Winter Olympics with Monaco’s bobsleigh team. That dream has slipped away, but his ambition remains intact. Interview.
RUCK ZONE: Arthur, not long ago you signed for Floirac, to general surprise. How did it come about?
Arthur Prevost : It’s quite funny. I know the president very well, he’s a friend of mine. Christophe (Hamaceck, ed.) came in to relaunch the project at Floirac. And I was around. People talked about me and Christophe took to me straight away, to me as a person and to my profile. For him, I was a bit of a challenge. I was the kind of player he liked to have under his wing. Or on his wing, as it turns out (smile). We laughed about it a lot. I kept telling him it wasn’t possible because I was preparing for the Milan Olympics with Monaco in bobsleigh. Since last May or June, I’d been thinking about it every day, every week. I came to the matches, I supported the team. Christophe always had a word for me and would ask: “so, when are you signing with us?”. It was funny, but I could feel he had a genuine interest in me.
I love rugby, I’ve been a fan of it since I was little. So when the announcement came that our Olympic bid was over because our pilot had been injured, Christophe called me. He tried to console me because my dream had vanished when we had done everything we needed to. I’d won the selection tests, I was on course to be a starter, with Cyril, who is a pusher. I had a season lined up of World Cups, European Championships, the Olympics… And in the end I was going to be staying at home. It was hard. Christophe then said to me: “listen, I’d really like you to play with us, I really believe in your potential”. He asked me if I was ready to sign. He convinced me and I said yes.
You had to do some testing before committing. Given that you signed, you must have convinced him in return?
It looks that way! At every training session he seems to be walking on air (smile). Every action I produce seems to please him. What I mean is that I’m a big worker. I love it. He told me I needed to learn two or three things, he put me in touch with people including Christophe Damien (strength and conditioning coach, ed.) to do physical tests and see where my physical level stood compared with your average rugby player. We did all the tests, and I started working on footwork in particular, because I run in a straight line (laughs). It seems he’s fairly happy. Physically, I’m broadly up to standard. Especially in terms of speed, since I come from a sport where the idea of quickness is a long way from rugby’s. It’s very hard for me not to be offside all the time. Apart from defensive positioning, I think I’m doing all right. Now we’re going to work to get better and above all to understand defence.
So you come from bobsleigh. Someone going from bobsleigh to rugby is almost unheard of, isn’t it?
It might be a first (smile). Let’s hope it’s a bet that pays off. That said, it is fairly similar in the sense that you work a lot on strength, explosiveness and speed. I think those are the qualities you need to play rugby. We’re not necessarily agile or technical, even if there are plenty of things that come close to it, like being able to jump into a bob – which is narrow – at full speed. You get thrown about in a bob. Given the hits I’ve been taking in rugby for a few weeks now, and compared with the crashes and the wild descents in a bob, rugby is a laugh!
You must have been a curiosity for your new team-mates… How did they take you in?
The older players know me because I came to watch the matches regularly. They know my story, we follow each other on social media. My strength and conditioning coach for bobsleigh is the same one as Floirac’s. I think I make everyone laugh a bit because I’m often lost. In defence, or when calls are made, it isn’t simple for me. In defence I’m completely lost. Luckily, we have backs who are very good to me, like the centres. Everyone is good to me. They tease me a lot because, as far as they’re concerned, everything I do, I do too fast. Rugby, like bobsleigh for that matter, is still a very technical sport.
Did you already have some rugby grounding?
I played when I was very young. I’m from the South West so of course… As a kid, everyone played rugby. Then I went off into athletics. Like riding a bike, you don’t forget it. Well, I’m not entirely convinced of that. Catching balls and passing, that’s fine. But in defence… And besides, quite a few laws have changed in the last 15 years. When you’re small, you play, you have a laugh. Now there are tactics and positions to learn. But once again, I’m lucky to have team-mates who help me a lot.
Is your first-team debut coming soon?
I played a first game in Espoirs against Sarcelles. I played one half. I think I produced some good moments, but you could also see I was still lost in defence. In attack, I brought a few interesting things. I played in Espoirs because I wasn’t going to go straight into the first team. For now, that isn’t realistic. It’ll depend on the coaches, on when they say I’m ready. We have very, very good players, especially in my position. They’re established. Maybe I’m quicker than them (smile), maybe I’ve got a bigger frame, but I’ve no pretension whatsoever of saying I can take their place.
“I turn 28 in six months. It’s time I thought about where I want to be, knowing that my dream was to go to the Olympics. I tell myself rugby can offer me a new life, so let’s see what it brings”
Your path is an unusual one… Can you tell us about it?
I started with judo very young. Then I moved on to rugby and football. I tried a bit of every sport at secondary school because I was lucky enough to be in a sports-study programme. That’s where I discovered athletics. I had a real appetite for it. I was passionate about it but I kept playing a bit of rugby alongside. I played for LMRCV, in Villeneuve d’Ascq. At the end of the year, I took the decision to go to the United States thanks to athletics. They gave me a scholarship to study. In France it wouldn’t have been the same thing. Gradually, athletics went well. I climbed the ladder rung by rung, I got on podiums in the United States, I came back to France, I got on podiums at the French championships, then at big World Tour meetings. I got to take part in the Décastar. I earned qualification for the European Championships, five years ago, in the decathlon. I didn’t go because they were only sending two athletes, and at that point there was Kevin Mayer and another athlete ahead of me. That’s when I started bobsleigh and fell in love with the sport. It really is a life apart, you travel enormously, you’re almost never at home, you go to every country in the world for races, training camps, competitions…
“At first I thought it was a bad joke. Because bobsleigh in Monaco… All I knew was Cool Runnings and I couldn’t see any ice in Monaco (laughs). Very quickly I realised it was serious
There too, how did the move from decathlon to bobsleigh happen?
As it happens, it isn’t as unheard of as all that. I got there thanks to Bruno Mingeon, who is Monaco’s head coach and also the France head coach. He contacted me after my first podium at the French Elite championships, telling me that as far as he was concerned, I had potential. At first I thought it was a bad joke. Because bobsleigh in Monaco… All I knew was Cool Runnings and I couldn’t see any ice in Monaco (laughs). Very quickly I realised it was serious. I got caught up in it, and it took me from being an athlete who was plateauing to a sport with money behind it. In France, sport is complicated. If you’re not a rugby player, a footballer or a basketball player, making a living is impossible. Me, I have five French Elite titles. If I was getting 400 euros a month, that was good going. Here I saw the chance of a degree of long-term security in financial terms. Because bob pays. It isn’t very developed in France, but in Europe and around the world it’s still very well known. There are big sponsors. It’s also the Prince’s sport (the Prince of Monaco, ed.).
You’ve said your chances of taking part in the Winter Olympics are slim, which means there’s still a sliver of hope. Do you believe in it?
There’s still the hope of 2030. But will I be fit enough? Do I want to carry on until 2030? As things stand, I love the sport so much that part of me wants to say yes. But there are plenty of factors to take into account. There’s the funding that will be put in place, my start in rugby, will I be able to handle both? Will I have to stop one of the two? I don’t have enough perspective on rugby yet to know where it’s going to take me. It’s true that I don’t know how to do things by halves. When I start a project, I go all in. Whether it’s a dual project or not. Right now I’m setting off on a dual project. I’m a very ambitious person. And then people have talked to me a lot about sevens over the last few days. It’s something that suits me well. I love playing fifteens, but since people have mentioned sevens, part of me is telling me that maybe I can go and find something there too. There might just be a chance of going to the Olympics in sevens… I’m not claiming I can do it, mind. Then again, if you’d told me four years ago that I’d become one of Monaco’s best bobsleigh pushers, I wouldn’t have believed that either.
“When I look at the kilometres per hour I hit, compared with Louis Bielle-Biarrey, I tell myself he’s actually some way off my top speed!”
Word is that you were impressive in the physical tests done with Floirac…
(Smile) It’s hard to say because I don’t really have reference points there. But it’s true that apparently I stand out in terms of strength. We did quite a few strength tests for the hamstrings, the adductors, the glutes… It seems I was above the rest! In terms of speed, I don’t think there are many rugby players who run the way I run. When I look at the kilometres per hour I hit, compared with Louis Bielle-Biarrey, I tell myself he’s actually some way off my top speed! Then again, they’re very good at rugby. For now, all I know how to do is run. I weigh between 95 and 100 kilos, I generate a fair amount of power, I have a big spring, I have big explosiveness, I have 30-metre times that are big… What I don’t have, on the other hand, is the technique.Home V2
And on that top speed of yours, can you give us a number?
I’ve run 60 metres in under 6.80 seconds. Over a flying 30 metres, I’m at 2.85 seconds. Those are very big times. For someone of my size, they’re not common. When I arrived, everyone thought I was a back-rower (laughs).
Is the bobsleigh federation still behind you? Has it heard about your commitment to rugby?
It supports me. I announced openly that I’d be signing in rugby. So far, I haven’t been told otherwise. They know how involved I’ve been with Monaco these last few years. I’ve always been beyond reproach. For the moment, it’s unclear for everyone. Since nobody knows where we’ll be tomorrow, I don’t think they hold it against me, as long as I honour my commitment this year. I’m still helping the young ones. For the 2030 Olympics, no project has really been launched yet. Everything will be decided in April. That’s when I’ll take a decision. As things stand, if I had to keep one project, it would be rugby. Now, if I can have both… I don’t want to give up bobsleigh. It gives me far too big a thrill. But it will all depend. I’m 28 and I have to think about my future. And if rugby can give me a stability that I can’t have without bobsleigh as things stand, I’ll take decisions.
To finish on rugby, the aim is therefore to play with the first team but also to score plenty of tries…
Yes, I’m an ambitious person. For now, there isn’t a single player whose place I can take. They’re far too good for my liking. Even the bench is too good for me. Technically speaking, it’s very solid. Christophe has built a squad that’s challenging at the top of the table. My place, I’m going to try to earn it. And if I earn it, it will be on merit. And then I still have my obligations with Monaco. I want to make myself as available as possible for the team and make Christophe proud.
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