France’s Germain Grangier returns to race the 2024 UTMB having placed third in 2023 — his best result at the race yet. In the following interview, Germain talks about his second-place run at Diagonale des Fous soon after UTMB last year, his busy ski mountaineering season, an injury that took him out of this year’s Lavaredo Ultra Trail, and all the small improvements he hopes to make in this year’s UTMB.
For more on who’s racing, check out our in-depth men’s and women’s previews and follow our live race coverage starting Friday.
Germain Grangier Pre-2024 UTMB Interview Transcript
iRunFar: Sarah Brady of iRunFar. I’m here just a few days before the 2024 UTMB with Germain Grangier. Germain, how are you doing?
Germain Grangier: I’m good, thanks. Yeah.
iRunFar: Great. Yeah. Fast year since we last saw you here.
Grangier: Sorry?
iRunFar: It was a very fast year since we last saw you here.
Grangier: Yeah, yeah. It was kind of one of my latest race, actually. Latest race, sorry.
iRunFar: Yeah, I was going to get to that. You did Diagonale des Fous shortly after last year, and that was pretty soon after to do another hard 100 miler. So, how was that? Did you feel recovered?
Grangier: Yeah. I think I took some time after UTMB 2023 to think about Diagonale des Fous, and yeah, actually I recovered pretty well from UTMB.
iRunFar: Okay.
Grangier: So, I think mid-September, I took the decision to go on Réunion Island again.
iRunFar: Okay. And you had a good day?
Grangier: Yeah. That was a tough race. It was extremely hot. But yeah, as always, it’s kind of a really vibrant race. And that’s always a good experience after UTMB. UTMB is more and more pro, you know, like things are more and more framed now. And then Diagonal des Fous is kind of the folklore of the end of the season, so.
iRunFar: Yeah. It’s more relaxed and authentic.
Grangier: Yeah. The atmosphere is more relaxed. Sometimes too relaxed, but it’s what we like there.
iRunFar: So you had a great run there. You came second. And then after that, you had an injury? Did you break some ribs over the winter?
Grangier: Yeah, that was recent. I would say mid-June, I broke two ribs as I was in Cortina training for Lavaredo [Ultra Trail].
iRunFar: Oh, no.
Grangier: So I ended up not doing the race, and take a little bit of time off. Not that much, honestly. My foot, it would like, stop me for longer, but I quickly biked, and then I stopped running two weeks, more or less, so not too bad.
iRunFar: Not a huge problem.
Grangier: No.
iRunFar: So then before that, you took a longer break then from racing, because you hadn’t done much in the spring. Did you have other injuries, or did you just intentionally take a little time out?
Grangier: In the winter, recently, I ski. I ski mountaineering most of the time. So, it depends when the snow lands, but between the end of November and the beginning of April, I don’t run at all.
iRunFar: Okay.
Grangier: I’m stung by a bee.
iRunFar: Oh, no.
Grangier: It’s fine. Yeah, I don’t run for five months. So, I have actually something like, 20 days of ski mountaineering racing. So, with sometimes back-to-back racing days. We have the mountain races.
So, I raced quite a lot of skimo, so it’s a shorter version. It’s like two to four hours.
iRunFar: Very good.
Grangier: And then I did my transition and was targeting to run Lavaredo, but this will be my first race of 2024.
iRunFar: But I’ve seen you did, I suppose it’s just a small tune-up race, but you did win a trail marathon in France in May, was it?
Grangier: Oh, yeah, I did. Yeah, exactly. It’s a small local race in a local valley where I live.
iRunFar: Okay.
Grangier: And I kind of took the decision like the day before to run the 42k because a friend of mine was texting me to go. And I was like, “Okay, yeah.” It was kind of the first small race of the season. Yeah, you’re right.
iRunFar: Yeah, very good.
Grangier: I did race once in May.
iRunFar: And did it feel fun to do something relatively short and fast like that compared to 100 milers?
Grangier: Yeah, yeah. I kind of like, it’s how I started trail running, with a really shorter version. So I still like it, and I maybe want to do more in the near future.
iRunFar: And then you said here last year, because last year was your third UTMB and it was your best result, and you said you’d changed up your training a little and got a bit more specific. Like more running and less cross-training. So, have you kind of continued with that in this build-up?
Grangier: Yeah, yeah. I would say I don’t do cross-training anymore, I do parallel training.
iRunFar: Okay.
Grangier: I ski in the winter and I run in the summer.
iRunFar: Okay.
Grangier: Still cross-training, but not really at the same time.
iRunFar: Not as much, okay.
Grangier: Yeah, I kind of did the same as I did last year. I felt like I trained a little bit more because I raced less. I had increased a little bit my running volume.
iRunFar: Okay. So similar.
Grangier: Yeah, similar, a little bit more of everything. And yeah, we’ll see what.
iRunFar: Yeah, very good. And then last year, it was such a strong result, but I’m sure you’re probably hungry to keep improving, but was there anything from last year that you think you can do better this year or anything in particular you’re trying to work on?
Grangier: Yeah, I think I can improve a little bit on my last part of the race, like from Champex to Chamonix.
Try to be a little bit more fast in that part. So maybe it means saving a little bit more energy before. Or just be mentally a bit more engaged in the last part, because last year I was just more like, I feel like I was more protecting my podium spot, because I’d never been on the podium.
I was not ready to really, like, go all out and maybe blow up in the middle.
iRunFar: Yeah, fair.
Grangier: Maybe this year I will try to do that.
iRunFar: I think runners who find themselves in third place often get a little bit conservative. It’s like, just stay here.
Grangier: Yeah, yeah. It was kind of that since I was just like, I was fifth in the previous edition. So, I was like, it’s better. Keep it safe. We’ll see.
iRunFar: Yeah. Well, I suppose this year when you’ve already had the podium, you can afford to be a little bit more aggressive at the end and see what happens.
Grangier: Yeah. It’s often like that. You’re more willing to take risks when you have already done.
iRunFar: And will your nutrition plan be mostly the same as before?
Grangier: Yeah. As I said, everything will be mostly the same. And then I try to improve my gear a little bit, like shave a little some grams there. Like, have a little bit more nutrition gel. Everything will be a little bit more ready mentally. So, we’ll see.
iRunFar: Just tiny improvements at this point.
Grangier: Yeah. At this point, you just do your small kitchen and then see at the end of the day what it brings.
iRunFar: And you’ve raced so many times here at UTMB. So, this will be your fourth actual UTMB. And then you’ve done well at CCC and OCC in the past as well. So, what is it about the UTMB festival that you keep coming back for more?
Grangier: I think my last three UTMBs, I was always doing a better time and ended up being in a better position. So you’re still in the spiral of like, you’re improving, you don’t know where you can end up.
iRunFar: Okay.
Grangier: So, I feel like I had more to give, so I came back.
iRunFar: And then there’s a lot of the same men on the start list this year that you raced against last year. So, who are you expecting to do well this year other than yourself?
Grangier: I guess all the same guys as last year for sure. And yeah, there’s a lot of guys that people don’t talk a lot about, like Spanish people. Like Miguel Arsenio, nobody really talks about this guy and he’s super fast.
It’s a name I just thought about, but definitely a lot of underdogs I would say.
iRunFar: And there’s some like, first-time 100 milers as well that will be interesting.
Grangier: Yeah. First-time 100 miler that are super fast on short formats. And I feel like if they are smart enough they can do something good. And it’s a lot of upcoming people. I think we are in a turn of the old generation and the new generation, and we are in a conflictual point. And it’s kind of interesting.
iRunFar: There’s an interesting mix of runners.
And have you thought past this race then? Are you going to go back to Réunion, or have you anything else planned?
Grangier: Yeah. I really like Réunion. I don’t, as the races are super close, I never say I’m going to do both. It’s going to depend… generally the last 50k or 40k of the race tells you if you are in a good overall state. And if you recover well the day after, or two days after, I think the training was good and you’re in a good state, then yeah. Normally take 10 days or two weeks to see. And yeah, I would like to go. I will see, yeah.
iRunFar: Okay. So it’s still a possibility.
Grangier: Yeah.
iRunFar: Well, enjoy the next few days, the last bit of your taper, and we look forward to seeing you out there. Thanks very much.
Grangier: Thank you. Thanks a lot.
