France’s Baptiste Chassagne placed second in the 2024 UTMB, an improvement on 10th in last year’s race. In the following interview, our first with Baptiste, he talks about how he moved up the field gradually, only entering the top 10 past the halfway point; what it meant to podium at the biggest race on his home trails; and how he gradually built up over the years to racing 100-mile distances.
For more on how the race played out, read our in-depth 2024 UTMB results article.
Baptiste Chassagne Post-2024 UTMB Interview Transcript
iRunFar: Sarah Brady of iRunFar. It’s the day after the 2024 UTMB. I’m here with second-place man, Baptiste Chassagne. Congratulations, Baptiste. How do you feel?
Chassagne: I feel super great. I feel happy, grateful, and really pleased to be there. It’s quite an honor to be with you, so thank you for the invitation.
iRunFar: We’re delighted to have you. So, you have a history here at this festival. You were top 10 at one of the UTMB races for the last five editions. You started at MCC in 2018, and you worked your way up to OCC and CCC, and then you were 10th at UTMB last year.
Chassagne: Yes.
iRunFar: But then, that was quite a big jump to your performance this year to place second.
Chassagne: Yeah.
iRunFar: So, did anything change massively in your training in the last year?
Chassagne: I don’t think so. I think that the performance of yesterday is just the result of a whole process that I started five or six years ago. Yesterday, I just had a really good day. Yeah, it’s a kind of concretization of all the process. There is perhaps a change of mindset. Jumping in the Nike journey, it also change the way of your thinking, or your thoughts.
iRunFar: Okay.
Chassagne: Last year, I was leading the [Trail Running] World Championships [Long Trail]. I was first at the middle aid station. I have been really anxious about leading the race because I was not designed for that. And to jump into the Nike project, it changed the way of how you see the performance. So, when I was second yesterday, okay, I can manage the pace, I can manage the thoughts.
iRunFar: Yeah, I think the psychology of 100 milers is a key part to it. So, you were saying just before we started, so you were 10th last year, but you’re an hour and 20 minutes faster this year. On a slightly longer course as well. But you said your splits were pretty much the same until Courmayeur. So, you had a really good second half. And I noticed you were still in 11th at Courmayeur. You’ve been gradually creeping up the whole race. Was that always the plan to run a conservative first half?
Chassagne: No, there was no plan. The only… I don’t know how to say that, but I really wanted to be really listening to my sensation, my feelings, and I never watched my watch, in regards to my watch. So, I was very focusing on the pace. So, there was no strategy, and then it was just super natural.
iRunFar: Cool. And then, in the second half, you’re gradually picking off runners. And was it a game to get the next one, and the next one, or did it just happen naturally?
Chassagne: Yeah, that’s the thing I really love in ultrarunning, it’s like playing chess. Every move is really important. So, I know if I push in this uphill, perhaps I will pay for that in the next downhill. So playing chess with the other competitors is something I really liked.
iRunFar: Very good. And did you actually run alongside anyone for a significant time, or were you on your own mostly?
Chassagne: Yeah, with Hannes Namberger, who finished fourth.
iRunFar: Very good.
Chassagne: We have, I don’t know how to say that, but a feeling and intuition with Hannes, which is an athlete I really, really appreciate because we share a lot of kilometers during the last World Championships.
iRunFar: Oh, very good.
Chassagne: And we share some partners together. So, it was really cool. We jumped from the nine position to the podium together in 50k, so-
iRunFar: Yeah.
Chassagne: … good company.
iRunFar: I think you’re both similar runners in that Hannes is very consistent as well.
Chassagne: Yeah.
iRunFar: Yeah. And very patient.
Chassagne: Yeah.
iRunFar: And then it was around the top of Trient where you moved into second place. And how did you feel there?
Chassagne: I don’t know. It was like, last year, I suffered a lot in UTMB. On my mindset, my keyword was, “Okay, I don’t want to suffer like last year.” So, I always want to keep this little margin. I didn’t want to go in the red zone, stay in the orange zone. And when I jumped into the second position, I had still this little margin, and I just wanted to keep the pace with the little margin until the last uphill. So yeah… I felt confidence.
iRunFar: And he was always quite close behind you, but you were still comfortable with the gap you had?
Chassagne: Yeah, it was a really, really big fight. In my dreams, I think that’s a dream of every trail runner. It’s like crossing the roads of Chamonix-
iRunFar: Of course.
Chassagne: … like, yeah, giving high-fives and everything. So, I imagined something different for my UTMB, like dreaming finish line-
iRunFar: Yeah, amazing.
Chassagne: … because I had to sprint until the last-
iRunFar: Oh, wow. Okay.
Chassagne: … 100 meters. So, it was not disappointing, but something different.
iRunFar: It is not what you expected.
Chassagne: Yeah, exactly.
iRunFar: That’s dramatic.
Chassagne: No, but that was really cool too.
iRunFar: Okay. Very good.
Chassagne: Surprising, but really cool.
iRunFar: Yeah, nice. And then, there’s something at the finish that confused a lot of us, the paddle.
Chassagne: Yeah.
iRunFar: What was that about?
Chassagne: It’s like kind of signature for two reasons. First, I consider myself not as a God-gifted athlete, more like a hard worker, not with so much talents. In my opinion, I have to row a lot-
iRunFar: Oh, okay.
Chassagne: … to achieve things and to achieve my dreams. So, that’s the first explanation. And the second one is that I really love football, soccer, and the signature of one of my favorite players is rowing when he scores a goal. So, the guy-
iRunFar: Okay. Who is that?
Chassagne: Marama Vahirua. He’s a really small player, in fact, not a small player, but a team player. He’s not a star. He comes from a small island called Tahiti.
iRunFar: Hopefully, he sees this.
Chassagne: Yeah.
iRunFar: Okay. And then, just from looking at your progression, even this past year, you’ve still done a lot of short trail races, but you’ve done incredibly well at the biggest 100-mile race in the world. So now, are you going to try and focus more on this 100-mile distance, or do you still like to do a bit of everything?
Chassagne: From the scratch, I mean, when I started to trail, I really wanted to become an ultrarunner. But I am really, really well-surrounded by my coach, my manager, my family, and everyone was telling me, “Okay, you have to be patient. So, you have to build this legs that will allow you to dream big at UTMB.”
As you mentioned for Hannes, consistency is a key. So, I just want to go passionately, and yeah, and my ambition is to become one of the best ultrarunner in the world.
iRunFar: Well, you’re here in second place on the UTMB podium, so I think you’ve already achieved that. And then, just finally, so I know you’re local to the area. Do you have a ski season or anything in winter?
Chassagne: Yes. I think that to be a local boy helped me a lot yesterday, about two or three things. First, I really know every trails.
iRunFar: Very good.
Chassagne: I mean, this is my playground, so I felt really confident to run at home. And then, I also had a lot of, lot of love and sharings from everyone. I really felt the extra power of being at home, running at home.
iRunFar: And what will you do now?
Chassagne: And about skiing season, I’m sorry. So, that’s why I live here. I really love to do a sport that the nature imposes you. So, when it’s winter, I really love to do mountaineering, skiing.
iRunFar: Okay. And the combination seems to work very well for a lot of athletes.
Chassagne: Yes.
iRunFar: Yeah. Okay. Well, thanks very much. It was great to have you-
Chassagne: Thank you.
iRunFar: … for your first of many iRunFar interviews.
Chassagne: Thank you so much.
iRunFar: Thank you.
