The French trail has just confirmed that he was at the top. French athletes Benjamin Roubiol and Marion Delespierre thus became long trail world champions (87 km, 6,500 m of elevation gain) on Friday in Innsbruck (Austria), one day after Clémentine Geoffray’s gold medal in the short format ( 45 km, 3,100 m of D+). Significant performances, notably in the wake of Blandine L’hirondel’s double in 2019 and 2022. For 20 minutesMarion Delespierre (36), sports doctor in Lyon, returns this Monday to her first world title, after 11h22’31” of battle in the Austrian mountains.
How do you feel about your return to your office as world trail running champion?
I only returned to Lyon on Sunday evening by train, so the transition is a bit violent (smile). In any case, the emotions and the endorphins of the race are still there, I’m still up there a bit. I just have a little trouble realizing what happened. I was not one of the favorites at all, I finished 7th in Thailand last year and I just had the podium in the back of my mind. But the course in Innsbruck was so demanding that anything could happen. Some riders quickly paid for a power problem, such as Baptiste Chassagne (17th), who experienced severe hypoglycemia while he was in the lead.
Like the cycling world championships, is there a race strategy defined beforehand with the coach for such an event?
No, there is no race strategy at all at the start. Of course, we thought that Blandine L’hirondel would be in front if she had a big day. But she had a foot injury and she had to give up. It was as the race progressed that the double objective of becoming world champion individually and as a team (with Manon Bohard Cailler 3rd, Audrey Tanguy, Jocelyne Pauly and therefore Blandine L’hirondel) appeared to me to be playable.
Is it a particular pride to become world trail champion while still being a full-time doctor, and moreover without living in the mountains?
It is certain, especially since more and more trail runners now have enough support from sponsors to completely or partially stop their professional activity. Between the Safeguard clinic (Lyon 9th) and the Lyon Gerland sports medicine center, I work between 40 and 45 hours a week. When the results aren’t really there, I tell myself that I have no chance of winning since I can’t go trekking in the mountains when I feel like it. But I find that this work-sport balance is also a strength: it helps me put races into perspective.
Whether I win or lose, I’m at work on Monday, without financial pressure or obligation of result in the trail. I love my job and it makes me feel good to think of something other than racing, even if my pace of life is sometimes very oppressive. I never ask myself and the ideal would be to lighten my professional schedule a little so that I can go around Annecy more often, and not just on weekends here and there. I now do bodybuilding at work with my physical trainer Quentin Giacomazzo and I live in the Monts d’Or, which is not bad for training. But it is certain that I don’t have a 1,000 m D+ bump in front of my house.
What value exactly does this world title have in the world of trail running, where legendary races like the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) and the Diagonale des Fous seem to receive more media coverage?
Winning the UTMB (170 km and 10,000 m of D+ from Chamonix) would remain above all (she finished 4th in 2021), but these world championships have grown more and more. Just compare the list of entries ten years ago and that of this edition… The density of trail runners is much higher today, and it is even higher than that of a Diagonale des Fous. I think it’s still the Holy Grail to wear your country’s jersey in a sport, even if it doesn’t have the same media coverage as in football, and we’re not yet an Olympic discipline. There are efforts to be made for our sport to be better known, but the results of the French at these Worlds prove that we still have a great pool of athletes.