2023-09-01 18:52:35
Par Gilles Festor
Posted 1 minute ago, Updated 1 minute ago
“Too many people run without really knowing why, their eyes riveted on the results, forgetting their environment and forgetting themselves at the same time”, says ultra-trailer François D’Haene (here, in March 2002, in Arêches-Beaufort). JEFF PACHOUD/AFP
Quadruple winner of the UTMB, the champion cultivates a unique way of conceiving the competition.
He is one of the notable absentees from the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc, which started this Friday in Chamonix. Like Kilian Jornet (injured to the sacrum), Xavier Thévenard (Lyme disease), François D’Haene was forced to give up on the 2023 edition of the most prestigious ultramarathon race (171 km and 9963 meters of vertical drop positive). Victim of a broken right leg in November 2022, the 37-year-old athlete is fine-tuning his preparation. Between them, these leaders of the discipline weigh twelve victories in nineteen editions, and the Beaufortin co-holds the record for the number of successes among men in the company of Kilian Jornet.
During the long weeks of convalescence, D’Haene has been chomping at the bit, like a lion in a cage. “It was hell”confess the one for whom “staying inactive for a day is impossible”. Watching TV is out of the question, he has none at home, in Arêches-Beaufort, the ski touring paradise, his other passion. But to something misfortune is…
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