Frenchman Vincent Bouillard won the 2024 UTMB in an astonishing breakout performance. In the following interview, our first with Vincent, he talks about his background in running, a time spent living and racing in the U.S., and how the day played out for him as he found himself alone at the front throughout the second half of the race.
For more on how the race played out, read our in-depth 2024 UTMB results article.
Vincent Bouillard, 2024 UTMB Champion, Interview Transcript
iRunFar: Sarah Brady of iRunFar, I’m here just the day after the 2024 UTMB with men’s champion Vincent Bouillard. Vincent, how are you?
Bouillard: Pretty good, thanks. Honestly, not too bad.
iRunFar: Okay. And you won UTMB, how does that feel?
Bouillard: Yeah, I don’t know that it hit quite yet. It will take a while for sure, at least a couple of days to fully sink in, but I think just taking it one thing at a time and mostly being able to enjoy it with friends and family was so special and going through lots of text messages and things, honestly, it’s pretty special.
iRunFar: Okay, that’s amazing. It’s amazing as a French runner as well, to win your big home race.
Bouillard: Yeah, I think UTMB has gotten so big now and it has a pretty broad impact even outside of France. But yeah, I guess arriving and it’s when towards the end of the last eight stations where people are starting to single along with my name, I was like, oh, okay it’s something I hadn’t anticipated for that.
iRunFar: Yeah, something very special. And just because this is our first interview at you, we’d just like a little background on you as a runner so I could find trail races going back about 10 years. And before that were you a track runner or a road runner, what’s your background?
Bouillard: I’ve run track. So for context in France, sport in school is very small, almost inexistent compared to the U.S. where it’s so big and a big deal if you do a sport with your school. So I’ve run track and cross country, but not at any super competitive level. I have lots of friends that did much better than I did, but also I grew up in this area and I’ve always had just a lots of inspiration to go spend time outside and whether it was hiking with my grandparents when I was a little kid or cycling, skiing in the winter, I’ve always been very active overall and never super competitive per se.
iRunFar: Okay, very good. So you’ve always been in the mountains?
Bouillard: Yeah, a little bit.
iRunFar: Okay. I’ve seen you’ve raced a bit in the U.S., you won the Gorge Waterfalls 100k last year, and then I think you won the Kodiak 100 miler by two hours.
Bouillard: Yes, yes. So I met my wife actually here at UTMB the first time in 2017 and then 2018.
iRunFar: Happy anniversary.
Bouillard: Thank you. She was at Hoka at the time, but we had done long distance for a bit and then I moved to the U.S. both to move in with her and pursue a professional opportunity with Hoka, but I think Gorge Waterfall came the right time of post COVID, no racing period. And also we had just moved to Portland, Oregon as part of a new office opening for Hoka, and it was a race that sounded really cool to participate because the Free Trail team, Dylan [Bowman] not really putting it on, and trails are just amazing up there. So that was a cool one and already the thought was to try and get towards, okay, what would it take to get to UTMB?
iRunFar: Okay, amazing. And then you moved back here earlier this year?
Bouillard: Yes, we just moved back. Well move for my wife, but move back for me in April, so very recently.
iRunFar: You’re different to a lot of the men’s top runners because you’re racing mostly against professional full-time athletes, but you have a full-time job with Hoka. So how does your training work around that? Do you think you do less volume than some of the others, or how do you fit it in?
Bouillard: I don’t know everyone’s schedule specifically. I’m not too much into looking at what everyone is doing super precisely. We have enough friends that do that sport very, very competitively. So I know roughly what the levels are. For me, I try to adapt with how my schedule allows, not just with work, but also other things in life.
iRunFar: Of course.
Bouillard: I absolutely love running and trail running, but it’s also very important for me and for us to have balance with other things. And sometimes we have weekend plans that do not involve any sort of running activity, that’s coming up in the next few weeks. It’s going to be very exciting.
iRunFar: Yeah.
Bouillard: But then my work schedule also allow me to be a bit flexible with maybe I don’t have always a nine to five very precise thing. I think Hoka as a company has, especially in the last few years post COVID, made it very clear that employees should take the time even it’s in the middle of the day to go do their workout or things. So yeah, just definitely leaning into that and trying to make things relevant from the different aspects.
iRunFar: Then just to talk about the race. So you weren’t like someone who started in the middle and crept up, you were in the top 10 from the go. So in the opening part of the race, was that the plan for you to just try to stay in touch with the front runners or were you just running your own race and that’s where you ended up?
Bouillard: Maybe a bit of both. I had ideas of what my splits were supposed to be, and so it’s funny because I’d never run this course, but I know it so well because I’ve followed this race so many times. So I was not going in the full unknown, and I didn’t feel like I was going way too fast. According to my splits, in fact, I was thinking that some runners will go a lot faster at the beginning, so I was surprised to be with Tom [Evans] and then Jim [Walmsley] on the run towards Les Contamines. But then I also was very focused on how am I feeling, what is the right pacing for me? Actually, right after Les Contamines, I took maybe a little longer than others at the aid station, and I took the next climb up to Col dui Bonhommme rather easily. So another group caught up on me, Katie Schide caught up on me as well. And it’s not until the following climb up to Col de la Seigne that I started to feel better and then I moved up.
iRunFar: Okay. And then when you first found yourself in podium position, how did that play out? Was it a case of you hunting down the runners in front, or did people just naturally come back to meet you?
Bouillard: Yeah, it’s funny because as I was saying, I was really trying to focus on how I was feeling and what pacing was right for what I thought I could sustain for 20 plus hours. I was not going… It was like, I’m going to run under 20.
iRunFar: Yeah.
Bouillard: But I guess starting at Col de la Seigne I caught up with a lot of runners and then eventually caught the… Well, Jim was still in the front, but caught Germain [Grangier], Tom, Ben [Dhiman], and I can’t remember who. There were four of them, but I felt really easy. Then when I was following them in the group, I felt really comfortable on the climbs and the descents. So I still don’t remember if I wanted to put an attack or if I just wanted to get in the front of that group, but naturally I was just climbing faster when I didn’t have someone in front of me. So then I caught up on Jim, and that’s where I realized like, oh, that means that now I’m taking the lead.
iRunFar: Okay, wow. And then it was around Courmayeur at halfway where you found yourself in front. And how did that feel? Was it scary? Was there a new pressure in the race then?
Bouillard: I think I was really… Even when I eventually realized, okay, that means that now I’m in the front, I kept focusing on how am I feeling and what does that mean for my own race and my pacing. And I was trying to put aside the fact that, okay, for now I’m in the lead, but maybe two hours from now I’m going to feel like crap and I’ll have to deal with a big crisis moment. So if I take five minutes or three minutes on this climb, those are three minutes that I took and they’re with me. So I think that’s the mindset that I had is like, okay, for now I know that I’m not overdoing it. I’m using reasonable pacing for me and be in that mindset of if things are going well, expect that they’re not going to go well for that much longer and prepare for when they’re not going well.
iRunFar: Okay, that sounds like a good strategy because you can very easily lose an hour in this race towards the end if you don’t take the three minutes when you need it.
Bouillard: Yeah. I think we were discussing with some friends of how, especially with the timing of the start at 6 p.m., the fact that it’s a night race for the elite field, everyone goes through rough patches, it’s compared to, I don’t know, Western States this year where it’s felt like everyone has it fully dialed and it’s on the entire time. At UTMB, you have to navigate maybe more parameters with temperature change, not this year as much, but a little bit.
iRunFar: There’s a lot of variables. And then for a time past Courmayeur and almost as far as Vallorcine, you were ahead of course, record pace. Were you just trying to ignore that and keep cool?
Bouillard: Yeah.
iRunFar: Okay, yeah. And were people telling you the whole time?
Bouillard: I think I was still in that same mindset of at some point I’m going to fall apart and I’ll have to manage that.
iRunFar: Okay, but you didn’t really.
Bouillard: Well, yeah, I think I was trying to get information on what the splits were behind to just get an idea of, okay, am I putting more gap or are they coming back on me? But I had this firm idea that at some point I’m going to not be able to hold the pace because I was dividing by section. I was like, okay, I’m going to push the climb up to Col Gran Ferret, and then the whole descent, okay, if I feel good, I’ll try and push, push, push. But I was not thinking of the timing, the final time. I think maybe as I got closer I was like, wait, how much is left? How much do I have time? Okay, maybe I can finish under 20 hours, and just that I think Jim deserves to have this course record, to be honest. And I think also that the course might change a little bit from year to year, but as I got closer, I was like, it would be really cool to run under 20 hours for sure.
iRunFar: Of course. Yeah, it’s amazing. And then how was the final descent into Chamonix and running through the town?
Bouillard: So I now, famously because of the Flégère [foreign language 00:10:44] station, I forgot a flask at Vallorcine, I did have my full capacity because I had a Ziploc that is also capacity to carry water, but I was very dehydrated on the climb up to La Flégère. I think with the heat and all the people around was starting to get a little just dizzy and with dehydration. And so with that context, I was even more focused on not falling, not tripping on anything and I ended up tripping on a rock literally in the last minute on the descent, just before we got on the road.
iRunFar: So you just fell into town?
Bouillard: I didn’t fall, but I hit really hard and it was actually super painful for the first part of my run into town. So I was like, oh no, it’s ruining the moment of just emotion.
iRunFar: That’s funny, because the women’s leader finished hobbling as well.
Bouillard: Yeah, at first I was like, I just literally broke my toe, there’s no other way. This is so painful. But I prefer that it happened in the last mile than in the first.
iRunFar: Yeah, for sure. And then I know you’ve probably just taken time to absorb all of this, but have you thought about the rest of the season? Is there another race in you or is this it?
Bouillard: Season as in calendar year? No, right now I’m really looking forward to not having our schedule revolved around my training and having other things that we set on the agenda. We were discussing we just moved here from the States and we actually have some friends coming to visit and we have a new apartment that we’re building out and stuff. So it’s nice to have other areas of focus and I’ll take the time today just before thinking of other things that I’ll put on racing calendar and whatnot. That will come when it comes, but not now.
iRunFar: Yeah, that sounds reasonable. Thanks so much for fitting us in. I’m sure you’re very into demand today and enjoy your recovery.
Bouillard: Thank you so much. Yeah, pleasure talking to you.
iRunFar: You too.
