ITW with Thomas boucher

Hey thomas, how was the training during the winter after a pretty long season in 2006?

-After the 2006 season i was really tired,that's why i took some rest to recover from this huge season.I did not skate for a month before restarting training easily. In comparison with the previous winter i restarted training hard like a month later, in the early january to be in a good shape at the end of may-beginning of june which is gonna be a tough month for us since we're gonna skate marathon every weekend and sometimes twice.I had the same training schedule with running session, indoor training, plyometrics and outdoor training and some indoor soccer for fun.They main difference for me since the previous winter is that i tried ice skating in the Nederlands for a month to get fun, by the way i did some ice marathon in B and i got quite a lot of fun. The winter here in europe is always a long way to go since you train in the cold that's why i'm pretty happy to restart the inline season to catch some rays.

-This year you are joining the brand new Matter-World Inline Center team, you left the Powerslide world team but you still belong to the BIG Powerslide family; how do you feel with this change for your career in the future? What are you waiting from this new challenge?

-As everybody knows the WIC rules slighlty changed for 2007 from 5 skaters to 4 skaters for the races overseas that's why powerslide couldn't keep all of us as we all wanted to do all the races.I had a one year contract and the others signed for two years that's why i left the team, but i really wanted to stay in the Powerslide family as all the Powerslide crew gave me such a big support in 2006 and thanks to them i'm still in the family. I'm really happy to join the Matter-World Inline Center team eventhough i would have been happy too to stay in the PS team as i truely believe that the best way to build a strong team is to stay all together for a long while in order to create some automatism as Salomon did in the past. I'm ready for the season to begin and i'm eager to be in Seoul.But now i'm fully devoted to the Matter team and i'm ready to catch some big victories in 2007, i will also have to be like a captain for my mates since apart Yann all the other guys are new on the WIC and they need to learn the way to skate a marathon.I wanna achieve this new challenge and for sure this year is gonna be one of the most chalenging season for me.

-After representing in Cartagena, you won quite easily the international tournament in Lagos Portugal. What were the main differences between this two big events? Tell us about this two experiences.

-Each year the winter is a way too long, so when Guido (Patincarrera) emailed me and told me i was invited to race in Cartagena Colombia, i was really happy to be able to compete on a high level while the other french guys were freezing at training in France.I knew i wouldn't fight for the victorybut this competion was a good way to start the new season. In Lagos, i was contesting in the colors of the French selection.After2006 season little disappointing, i decided to focus much more on traditionnal races. I think it's really important, cause then after skating more often track and road racing, the training for worlds gets easier and you are used to this tough races. The main difference between this two event was the level. Indeed in Colombia, the event was part of the qualifying race to be part of the national team for the worlds in Cali, so all the top Colombian skaters were really fit there.I was just arriving from France were the tempature was arround 3° and there in Colombia it was really hot like 30°. Added to the lime lag the temperature gap did not help me to skate well. It was almost the same for all the European skaters, but day after day and race after race i felt better and better and i finally finished with a good 6th place on the marathon ahead some world class Colombian skaters. In Lagos there were not any south american skaters, so eventough there were some world class skaters like Pier Davide Romani and Garikoitz Lerga we couldn't do any comparison.Back from Cartagena i had a good rythm, that's why i won the first race, you know the difference between me and the other skaters was exactly the same as in Cartagena when i raced the first day versus the Colombians, but i was suprise to sprint versus Garikoitz cause i didn't expect him to be that fast. Eventhough Lagos was not that big i got a lot of fun to race there, especially when i won the point race which was for me the first time in senior. I was pretty happy to beat Pier Davide which got 4th on that race at worlds in Anyang but i really wanna dedicate this victory to ewen that did an amazing job for me.

-Ewen is new in the team and for his first year in senior he's gonna contest the FIC and some WIC, it seems he did really well his job to bring you to the victory in Lagos...What are you expecting from him for the upcoming season?

-As a first race in senior, Ewen did a really good job. I knew he would do it well anyway, because i knew he would listen to my advices during the race. Ewen is that kind of guy that kill himself to bring you to the victory like was Franck Cardin in the past. Both are not so fast but they can kill everybody and help you till dying. I wish him to have a career as successfull as Franck. Ewen he still young and we have to be carefull not to burn him too early because he's not used to race every week end, but for sure if he's trainng well and listening to our advices he will be one of the best workers worldwide on marathon and traditionnal races. You can count on him in the future.

-In 2006 you got pretty good results in WIC with 8th overall but you didn't reach your goals in the international champs...What are gonna be your goals in 2007?

-Last year i really wanted to do a good WIC season but unfortunatly i was not really lucky, several times i was close to catch a podium like in seoul where i got 4th. I know it's more important to win a WIC race than always being in the top then but to me when you are in the top 10 overall it's also showing your ability to skate on a high level the whole season, that's why in 2007 i'll try to finish again well placed overall but the main target will be to catch some podiums and victory in WIC. I'm also focused on Worlds this year after being a little disappointed of my results in anyang last year...

SO LET'S TRAIN HARD AND KEEP GOING