“I’m a competitor and I need to perform.” Throughout the interview with Dorian Louvet, ex-finalist of Koh-Lanta and Sunday runner, elite category and big times, the question of performance transpires in the exchanges. At 33, this SNCF controller on availability, also a sports coach specializing in running, content creator, ambassador for Paris-2024 and father of Nala, almost two years old, has embarked on the Paris Marathon for the second consecutive year. . But not without a goal: “Last year, I wanted to run it under 2:30. Result: 2h27”48. This year, I am aiming for 2h25”.
Best known for having participated in Koh-Lanta: The four lands, broadcast in 2020, Dorian Louvet is thirsty for adventures, challenges, … and results! “I am happy with the performance”. For the 2023 edition, the runner, also author of My running coach (First editions), released in 2022, displays its ambitions: “I am running the Paris semi at the beginning of March with the objective of going under 1h09, last year, I achieved a time of 1h09”18. It’s not a main objective, it’s included in my preparation for the Paris Marathon. And if I succeed, all the lights will be green for April 2.
Runner at heart
A former national-level 3,000-meter steeplechase runner, this amateur athlete who is close to the French elite, recounts his eclectic relationship to running. “In 2016-2017, I was able to obtain a place as a finalist in the French elite championships over 3,000 meters steeplechase. At the time, I almost only ran on the track, with the exception of a few bibs on the 10 km road”. His selection for the Koh-Lanta show marked a turning point: “it was like a way out, I think I was at the end of what I could give for the track”. Between his participation in the adventure game, the dissemination and media coverage afterwards as well as the birth of his daughter, Dorian Louvet stopped racing for almost a year and a half. “I needed it and at the same time, I felt at one point that something was missing.”
In 2021, he put on his sneakers and embarked on the Marathon des Sables in October, in the Moroccan desert, with Alix Noblat and Mathieu Blanchard, met during Koh-Lanta. “In such races, reputed to be among the toughest in the world, the training and the objective are not the same. I went there to have fun and challenge myself, like on the Diagonale des Fous in October 2022. These are great experiences but it’s not the same sport”. This challenge nevertheless marked the return to racing for Dorian Louvet, who took part in his first Paris Marathon in 2022. “ASO (the race organiser) came to pick me up but it was totally in line with my desires. And given my results, I am legitimate to access an elite bib ”. The runner all the same, confides in a laugh that on the other hand the organization is not his strong point and that he passed very close to direct elimination last year: “I had accepted this preferential bib but I completely forgot to register. I realized it two days before the race”, he jokes.
Influence and performance, the two strengths of Dorian Louvet
This year again, for his second Paris Marathon, and his second marathon altogether, Dorian Louvet will have a luxury hare: Jimmy Gressier, new European record holder for the 5 km on the road. “We have been friends for years with Jimmy, I have the same trainer as him, Adrien Taouji (now national trainer at Insep for the middle-distance group), and I was able to go on a preparation camp in Kenya at his sides during the first half of February. Like last year, it is a pleasure to share this moment with him, it is he who will manage the pace which is really cool and comfortable to have a hare on this rhythm”.
The ex-adventurer, on the strength of his experience in 2022, is betting on optimal preparation. “Last year, I had already been able to experiment with this type of course, to see how my body reacted to the altitude. But that was 16 weeks before the race. There, I was able to integrate it into my specific marathon preparation which begins ten to twelve weeks before the event. I was already in good shape when I arrived there and I was able to collect volumes of 160 kilometers per week, whereas I am on 120-130 kilometers when I am at home. There, I am 100% in my practice in training as in recovery.
In the region of Caen where he lives, he has to juggle his family life, his professional demands and the demands of his media exposure. “Going to Kenya is a real opportunity, I’m aware of it and I’m taking advantage of it. I was happy to leave, and even more to come back!, he jokes. The video, it really changes everything to keep a link with your children. At not even two years old, my daughter is evolving very quickly and I don’t know if I could have left without this precious tool,” he adds more seriously. “I’m lucky to be able to afford it, as I can during the preparation for the Paris Marathon, to allow myself to reduce my working hours to spend more time in training”.
“I am one of the good French people but not to the point of claiming the French team or at European level, continues, lucid, Dorian Louvet. But my performances today coupled with my visibility on social networks appeal to several brands with whom I have the chance to collaborate. I take advantage of this double role, which is quite rare in the world of running. It is a real strength”. The runner, who now considers running as part of his job, has also been chosen as an ambassador for Paris-2024, and will have the honor of participating in the Marathon for all. “It will definitely be a great sporting celebration and I, who am a big fan of sport and F, can’t wait to be there. The course will be difficult, much more than that of the Paris Marathon. And I hope to get there in good shape and shine there. I already know that there is a long climb which breaks the legs, we turn left before Versailles and we suffer! “, he launches in a laugh.
A short trail finish in 2023
In the meantime, the almost amateur runner has ticked several boxes for 2023. “After the Paris Marathon, I will embark on short trail running by transforming my training. I think I can be competitive over 40-50 kilometers, distances that correspond to my physical qualities. When I start a race, I need to get a performance, he explains. The Diag and the Marathon des Sables are ultra-trail, a totally different sport for which I don’t want to train at the moment”. In particular, he planned to line up at the start of the Marathon-Race in Annecy at the end of May, then the Mont-Blanc Marathon at the end of June and the end of August, on the OCC, one of the races of the legendary UTMB, which is 56 kilometers long. . “Last year, I went there relaxing and the end was particularly difficult. This year, I really want to go back to perform”.
An age limit to stop the competition? Dorian Louvet doesn’t think about it. “What motivates me is to set myself a goal. I am new to the marathon and the half, since I only participated in those of Paris in 2022. Same for the trail. I seize the opportunities that present themselves. He thus took part in a trail run in French Polynesia and took up several solidarity challenges such as running the distance of a marathon for eight days in a row without ever having put on a bib for the queen distance. “It was for an association in 2021. My objective was to raise 5,000 euros, we collected more than 35,000. I like this spirit of overcoming for the good cause”.
Travel, race, performance, surpassing oneself, Dorian Louvet has found his own balance to flourish and take advantage of opportunities. “I love what I do but I’m not perfect at optimizing every detail of my life. On the hygiene of life in particular, I am not an example, he jokes. And then, I come back from a family vacation the day before the half-marathon”. What if this was the recipe for going under 2h25 in Paris on April 2?