Eden Leprevost Blin-Lebreton, high-flying cyclist at the 2023 Debutante Ball

“I shouldn’t have felt that,” she wonders on the other end of the phone. Eden Leprevost Blin-Lebreton, 19, is set to attend the Debutante Ball on Saturday, November 25th at the Shangri-La. And if the rider is among the hand-picked guests of this prestigious charity evening, it is neither as the daughter of an actor nor as a member of the aristocracy. The professional athlete is among this edition’s “deserving debutantes” who have been invited by the ball for their exceptional abilities.

Crowned the French Pro 1 show jumping champion in April 2022, he who once watched the festivities on television from his grandmother’s living room had little doubt that he would one day compete. “I was really surprised that Bal contacted me,” she admits. It was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.” When asked what she expects from the event, Eden Leprevost Blin-Lebreton is particularly excited. “I’m expecting something really big, and I think it’s going to be even more incredible than I imagined,” he says. An evening in which she will appear on the arm of her companion Theo Ogorzali, wearing an Edouard Vermeulen dress.

A little girl’s dream

The only daughter of two professional equestrians, Guillaume Blin-Lebreton, who runs a horse farm, and Penélope Leprevost, the Olympic show jumping champion at the 2016 Rio Olympics, the talented Augeron seems to be on a clear path. However, Eden emphasizes this. his mother had hoped for a long time that he would go a different way. “He really didn’t want me to do this because he knows all the downsides,” the young rider explains. It’s a difficult sport reserved for the elite.” Coming from a completely different background, Penelope Leprevost, whose mother was afraid of horses, actually struggled to establish herself in this profession. Tests with which he did not want his daughter to meet.

That won’t stop Eden Leprevost Blin-Lebreton from riding ponies since the age of 3, at the urging of her mother’s friend, who introduced her to the sport “against this woman’s will”. Love at first sight is immediate. At the age of 6, Eden took part in her first equestrian competition. Two years later, the little girl announced out loud that she wanted to become a professional rider, “like her mother.” “What I admire most about her is her journey and her determination,” she sums up today, referring to Penelope Leprevost. He started from nothing and ended up with the title of Olympic champion in Rio. It’s unbelievable. It’s the dream of many little girls.”

Peaceful relationship

In his younger years, Eden will continue to prove the extent of his will and abilities. So much so that at the age of 11 he left ponies to ride horses. And can finally follow Penelope Leprevost within her competitions. So far, Eden has indeed experienced a childhood marked by the frequent absences of her father and mother. “Both my parents were professional riders, so they raced every weekend,” he recalls. It was difficult, my mother could not take care of me like all mothers. Neither did my father, although he was closer (he owns a stud farm in Fumichon, editor’s note)”

As a child, Eden lived with her maternal grandparents. “They raised me,” he says. As soon as possible, they took me to see my mother during the competition. I found my parents every week, but for a very short period of time. Eden Leprevost Blin-Lebreton, however, is pleased to have had the opportunity to travel from a very young age. When her career takes a more serious course, the young girl also takes advantage of her mother’s advice. Not without some friction.

“When I was younger, this ‘mom and coach’ relationship wasn’t always easy,” Eden explains. Now I have more experience and perspective, and at the moment of my failure, he is less demanding of me. It’s going really well, and even better because we’ve been working together.” In fact, the two women have been working together for more than a year at the same company, the Pénélope Store, an equestrian and horse equipment store created by Pénélope Leprévost. His main asset, according to his mother. “He manages to get this bond that makes the horse work hard for him,” he says in the Ouest-France columns. A relationship that also cooled during the young girl’s sporting exploits.

“Historical” event

In 2018, Eden participated in his first European Championship as a child. The following year, he created an Instagram account, now followed by 81,100 people, where he documented his journey, then finished runner-up in France at the Elite Amateur Championship. In 2022, Eden will participate in the European Junior Show Jumping Championship. In April of the same year, he won the Fontainebleau Junior Nations Cup with the team, and then the France Pro 1 singles championship.

The day after this victory, his mother in turn won this title in the highest category, Pro Elite. “It was historic,” comments Eden. The odds were so slim that we would both win on the same weekend. This was a turning point in my career as I developed into a professional life and no longer just recreational riding.” That same year, she flew to Wellington, Florida, where she learned more with Henry Prudent, her mother’s former trainer.

“I was disoriented”

Despite his exemplary career, the rider also knows his share of failures. “Approximately every year, at the same time, I go through a difficult phase,” he admits. “These are stages that are more or less long, more or less difficult.” One of them, which took place after his first European Championship at the age of 14, lasted six months. “I kept riding, but I was disoriented, I couldn’t do half as much as I used to,” she recalls. But he never wanted to give up. “It was quite difficult, but when you get through it, you realize why you worked so hard.”

Since then, Eden Leprevost Blin-Lebreton says she has “taken a step back” and discovered how to “better manage failure”. “It really destroyed me, but I learned to bounce back faster,” she says now. Later, the rider also has an impact on his future prospects. “My dream would be, like for many cyclists, to compete in major championships,” he explains. I would also like my mother’s business to continue operating.” As for the Olympics, Eden would obviously see himself participating in them. Without haste. “The advantage of professional cyclists is that they can practice from 10 to 75 years old,” he observes. I’m not in a hurry, but I hope to get there one day.” And the young woman concluded. “It would be better to participate with my mother.”

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