Vincent Bouillard and Baptiste Chassagne: the UTMB 2026 favorites on intersecting paths

Vincent, you’re stacking two 100-milers in eight weeks. Is that really sensible?

One of the things that made me decide to start UTMB is knowing I can take a real break and proper time off afterwards. Doubling up on two 100-milers in eight weeks isn’t trivial, so I’m really looking forward to letting my body and my mind recover and having family time that isn’t dictated by training.

Were you worried your body might say “enough” after Western States?

Not necessarily. I try to remember that everything is temporary. When things aren’t going well, I tell myself, “it’ll come back.” It’s the same in ultras when you hit a stretch where everything’s clicking: usually it doesn’t last long, and it can flip really fast. So overall you have to stay patient and trust that it will pass. You know you’re going to suffer, you know you’re going to get hammered by a huge amount of intense signals, and you have to be ready to take them in, not change your strategy the moment the first alarm goes off.

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How do you rate your fitness heading into the start?

Obviously it’s different from two years ago when I was building for UTMB, because this time I first had to take the time to recover from Western States. But mentally, what you have to keep repeating is that you don’t start from zero every time you begin a training block. All the work I did for Western States will be useful for UTMB. In the eight weeks between the two races I just added the finishing touches; I came back to training on terrain that’s more UTMB-specific. One thing that helps is that this kind of terrain suits me better than Western States.

So you’d say you’re at 100%?

If I wasn’t at 100%, I wouldn’t be on the start line. I really didn’t put pressure on myself, no ultimatum. The calendar is what it is: most athletes are entered for UTMB from January, but you know it depends on how your season unfolds. With a Western States that went really well, I first wanted to listen to my body and my head and see how I felt physically and mentally in the days and weeks after Western States. Through August, honestly, I didn’t know if I was going to race UTMB, because I really didn’t want to make that decision in a rushed or unreasonable way. And little by little, it turned out there wasn’t anywhere else I’d rather be that weekend than Chamonix! At the Hoka camp in late July, where we ran the Tour du Mont Blanc over three days, I could see I was finishing each day comfortably; I felt really good. But I want to stress that beyond the physical side, there’s the psychological side: on 100 miles you have to be ready to suffer, to face the low patches, and if mentally you’re not ready to go fight like that, I think it’s hard to finish and be competitive.

I’m really trying, honestly, to ignore the past and tell myself that at the start line you kind of begin from scratch again.

Will winning Western States change how you approach this UTMB?

It’s clearly the race with the most media attention, and yet you spend a lot of time alone, especially at night. You don’t see many people. And I actually love that, because you know that as soon as you leave Notre Dame de la Gorge and climb up to Col du Bonhomme, the deck gets reshuffled and, more than anything, the lines on your resume don’t matter anymore. At that point, we all get to take our shot again, and the best will win.

Is it psychologically freeing to have already nailed a big race?

Yes, but at the same time, if I’m at UTMB it’s not to show my face and go for a jog. If I’m there, it’s to race, to compete, and my goal is to improve on 2024. The first goal is always to finish, because it’s brutally demanding and very long. But after that, clearly, my ambition is to be in the mix and do better than I did in 2024.

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You’ve got a different label on you now…

Yes, and maybe my win in the U.S. took some pressure off. But I also have pressure compared to 2024, with expectations around my race that just weren’t there two years ago, so it kind of balances out. For all we know, this weekend we might see someone lead who nobody saw coming, and they’ll redefine what’s possible.
And my dream is that we’re still fighting for the win when we climb up to La Flégère. That would be amazing, it’s never happened at UTMB. And when you look at how much the level at the front has progressed, I think the sport is about to step up another notch. I can’t wait, and I’m really happy to be part of it!

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Baptiste, are you back to grab that one spot you missed to win in 2024?

I wouldn’t say it’s only about grabbing that one spot I missed, but I did need a break. I’m someone who races on emotion, and when I feel like I’ve delivered something complete, I empty the tank emotionally and I need time to let the energy gauge fill back up.
So that break was necessary to build the desire back up a bit. And also to get better. Because in 2024 I figured out why I’d had a strong performance, but also why it wasn’t fully finished. I identified my weak points and I gave myself two years to work on them and come back stronger.

What were those weak points?

People often say UTMB is a runnable race. I agree with that for the first two-thirds. But if you isolate the last third, it’s still very technical. In the sense that if the race were only that final third, the runner who wins that section wouldn’t be the same one who wins the first two. So I went to work on steeper, more mountainous, more technical terrain, to get better on descents and to gain experience. And I found all of that at the Diagonale des fous (which he won in 2025, Ed.).

I really want to beat the guy I was in 2024, because that would mean I’ve improved.

Earlier this week, your sister had a great result (third in the MCC, Ed.). How did you handle those emotions, and did it drain you?

I didn’t try to control my emotions at all. Honestly, it was completely unexpected that my sister would finish third in the MCC; she doesn’t train every day, she’s not chasing performance at all, so it was pretty surprising. So I hadn’t anticipated those emotions. I just took them as they came, and honestly, when I saw she was third, I was standing on my bed like I was celebrating a Saint-Étienne goal. I only took the positives, and honestly I just told myself the week was already a success. My sister lived an incredible moment, and she understood why I train every day: to go and feel emotions like that.

So it was all good vibes?

My dad told me, “we’ve opened the medal count.” When the Olympics or a championship starts on day one with a good vibe, it puts a smile on everyone’s face, and that’s kind of what I feel, like the signs are pretty positive. Maybe on Saturday I won’t say the same thing at all. But honestly, two years ago I would have signed right away to be exactly where I am today. So I’ll move toward the race like that, step by step, and I think it’s going to be good.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time with Vincent, and he taught me to have that winner’s mindset.

How do you feel before the start?

I feel aligned with the path I’ve taken. There have been highs and lows. I enjoyed the highs, without getting carried away, and I moved through the lows trying to learn and grow. I can’t say I feel like something is going to happen, that would be false. But I’m pretty confident that whatever happens on Saturday afternoon or Saturday night, I’ll be satisfied with the journey I’ve made. Whatever the result, I know I’ve improved.

© Leo Girard / FFA

On that journey: back in 2021 you said you wanted a UTMB podium within 3–4 years. You’re ahead of schedule…

Yes, for sure. Now the new goal is to win this race. It’s a dream. Being around international athletes, I feel like we French sometimes have a harder time owning that ambition. I’ve spent quite a bit of time with Vincent, and he also taught me to have that winner’s mindset. I cultivated it, and I think it helped me do something special at the Diag’. That said, at UTMB there are so many people and the depth is so insane that it would be way too presumptuous to say I’m only aiming for the win, in the sense that it’s not the only scenario that would satisfy me. I really want to beat the guy I was in 2024, because that would mean I’ve improved. And if that happens, then I think I can look further ahead and do even better, but first I want to raise the bar there. I think going faster than 20:22 is already a great objective.