Olympic legacy takes center stage at the Voies Royales de Saint-Denis

Try as we might to close the book, it keeps finding its way back to us. Relentlessly. The chapter devoted to the Olympic and Paralympic Games. One of its finest pages was written at the Stade de France. On July 27, 2024, Antoine Dupont and his France sevens teammates pulled off a stunning 28-7 win over the two-time Olympic champions from Fiji, in a white-hot atmosphere. Its purple track also saw Cyréna Samba-Mayela crowned Olympic 100m hurdles silver medallist on that same surface on August 10, 2024.

More than a year after that enchanted interlude, the 8,500 participants in the Voies Royales de Saint-Denis got to experience those memories for themselves. She wanted to add her name to the event's roll of honour and “follow in the footsteps” of France's athletes for her 21st birthday. Anaïs Herlangue, a first-year master's student in sports law in Dijon, completed her first half marathon in 2:14 with her mother, 47-year-old Florence Poupard. “The finish was pretty good ,” they said in unison. An understatement, given the shivers that ran through us as soon as we entered the stadium.

© Anais Herlangue, 21, and her mother Florence Poupard, 47, completed their first half marathon in 2:14. © Marathons.com

“Showing that you can exercise with everyday equipment”

Turning dreams into reality. Last year, visually impaired sprinter Timothée Adolphe triumphed on home soil, winning Paralympic silver in the 100m and 400m. That legacy inspired Céline Casside, 46. After taking on the Paris Marathon in a wheelchair, the tattoo artist tackled the 21.1K from the Olympic Aquatics Centre to the stunning Basilica of Saint-Denis, accompanied by her two nephews, Liam and Dorian. “I want to show that you can exercise with everyday equipment and that it is possible. I didn't spend astronomical sums of money,” said the runner who dreams of taking part in the Berlin Marathon.

They chose humour instead. “I know he runs for Strava” and “I run for her” read the shirts worn by Clémence Guittonneau and Guénolé Corbin. Both injured, the couple let themselves be swept up in the Parisian madness. “There was a nice bridge,” they smiled. No doubt they meant the Olympic Village bridge, one of the most tangible legacies of the world's biggest sporting event. The landmark bridge was also named Louafi Bougueraen on December 7 last year, honouring the first Franco-Algerian to win Olympic marathon gold for France, in 1928.

© Céline Casside, 46, with her two nephews Liam and Dorian. © Marathons.com

They put on their finest racing gear and set out to shine inside the Cité du Cinéma. An idyllic setting for Corentin Bellego and François Jumeau, though not without a few twists. “It was a little slippery. We almost fell,” explained the pair, who met at École Polytechnique. They caught up with each other at the 20K mark, then stuck together to finish the half marathon in under 1:24. But the two thirtysomethings did bemoan the “lack of atmosphere” at the entrance to France's largest stadium. “All we were missing was a Beyoncé concert halfway through.”

He still did his best to raise his voice and fire up the stands. Accompanied by his sidekick Romain Babillon, Mathieu Poplimont, the announcer once again took to the floor of the Saint-Denis stadium. The public speaker had already been there for the Stade de France's inauguration on January 28, 1998. On July 12, in the football World Cup final, Zinédine Zidane and Emmanuel Petit sent Les Bleus to heaven. Twenty-six years later, the stadium came alive again during the Olympic and Paralympic Games. On Sunday, October 26, 2025, the spirit of sporting achievement was still palpable in France's temple of sport.

The Mayor of Saint-Denis, Mathieu Hanotin, got it exactly right: “The Olympic legacy is a living legacy.” Backed by the Saint-Denis club, the Voies Royales took us back into the legendary arena of the Olympic and Paralympic Games: the Stade de France.

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