Jacky Fallut – The Spirit of the Duel

Believing in one’s dreams is daring to stay in the arena.

He has the look of someone who knows what it means to fight — not against someone, but for something. For Jacky Fallut, founder of the Challenge Aramis, competition has never been a mere obligation: it is a field of truth, a driving force, an art of living.

“I grew up with the idea that you get to know yourself in the heat of action.Competition isn’t a constraint — it’s a demanding game, a mirror of what you’re capable of being.”

From Pentathlon to Fencing: The School of Movement

Before becoming a fencing master, Jacky came from modern pentathlon, that all-encompassing Olympic discipline combining fencing, shooting, swimming, running, and equestrian.

“Pentathlon is probably the Olympic sport that has evolved the most. It’s managed to modernize without losing its soul.And the one-touch fencing we practice there left a lasting impression on me. You have to be ready instantly — sharp, clever, decisive. I think that’s where I learned to love short, intense formats, where everything happens in a heartbeat.”

From that school of reflex and passion he kept a philosophy — a vision of sport that reinvents itself without denying its roots. It’s that thread he would later weave into Aramis.

The Taste of the Road and Fleeting Victories

When he created the Challenge Aramis, Jacky never wanted just another tournament. He wanted to rekindle the spirit of the challenge — the same spirit that had thrilled him for years as he traveled across France from gymnasium to salle d’armes.

“I loved traveling to compete. Every trip was an adventure. You’d discover new clubs, new opponents, new friends.Sometimes you won, often you lost — but you lived.”

That love of pure play, of honest combat, of brief yet intense victories — he refuses to see it fade away. Because that, he says, is what shapes young athletes more than any ranking ever could.

“What I want to defend is that taste for risk, that flame that gets you up to train and cross blades.The real challenge is the one you set for yourself, not the one imposed on you.”

Another Idea of Competition

For him, competition must remain a source of engagement, not a mechanism of elimination.

“Too many young fencers today compete waiting for a result — a point, a ranking, a selection. They forget the pleasure of fencing.”

The Challenge Aramis was designed as an antidote to that drift. Its format — where all teams fence the same number of matches — encourages play, progression, and constructive encounters. Each successive bout grows tighter, more intense, allowing everyone to feel the crescendo of emotion, regardless of level.

The Porthos Tournament, fought in single-touch bouts, is the purest expression of that spirit: a brief, electric moment without calculation, where everyone — girl or boy — has a chance.

“That single touch is a symbol — the one you can’t afford to miss, but never forget.”

A Bridge Between Generations

Jacky sees the Challenge as a bridge — between young fencers discovering competition and seasoned athletes who come to inspire them.

“I like to think this event gives young people the desire to keep going, to nurture their hunger to improve.To do that, they need role models.It’s by engaging with champions that they really grasp what commitment means.”

Each edition brings together high-level patrons and mentors, showing that performance can be both demanding and accessible.

“Top-level sport isn’t an ivory tower.Having met quite a few of those athletes over my career, I know how deeply they’ve believed in themselves and worked for success.I want the younger generation to feel that.”

Holding on to the Spirit of Play

Despite obstacles, pandemics, and bureaucratic inertia, Jacky persists — not out of stubbornness, but out of fidelity.Fidelity to a simple idea: competition as a school of life.

“It’s not just an event — it’s a mindset. You fight, you learn together, you share, you cheer each other on.It’s not just a date on a calendar; it can be a collective adventure. And thankfully, some have understood that — and remain faithful to it.”

When asked what keeps him motivated, his answer is immediate:

“Because we need places where the game stays alive. Where young people feel they still have the right to push themselves, to lose, to win — and above all, to dream.”

On the pistes, Challenge Aramis T-shirts have become living souvenirs. Each edition — in Lyon or elsewhere — extends the same promise: a sport where one still dares to take up a challenge, for the beauty of the gesture and the joy of the fight.

“As long as there are young people who dream of a victory — even for a single day — Aramis will have a reason to exist.”— Jacky Fallut

“I’ve always trusted youth…”— in memory of his grandfather, Robert Fallut