Balancing humanity and performance, Emmanuel Bonnier takes on the 24-hour World Championships

He probably wouldn’t have believed it himself. After just eight years of running, the Loire native will line up alongside Michael Boch (Ac Vallee Ste-Marie-Mines, five caps) and Diego Filiu (Zoom Volt Runners) at the 24-hour World Championships in Albi in a few weeks. Emmanuel Bonnier has no intention of making up the numbers: the Angers runner is targeting the highest French placing possible, or even “a top 10 internationally”. Although the winner of the 2025 Ultra-Trail de l’île d’Oléron (7:52) will not race in French colours, having qualified in the Open category, he will compete under the same conditions as the discipline’s leading runners, with medical support provided. The course is a 1.5 km loop around the Maurice Rigaud municipal stadium, to be completed as many times as possible. “I’ll run at 4:30 per kilometre for 80 km, then walk for 45 seconds every 20 minutes,” he says.

For all his initially presumptuous airs, the winner of Tout Angers Bouge in 2023 can point to results that are more than solid. He finished on the podium at the Grand Raid de l’Ultra Marin (175 km) at the end of June, with his wife Latifa and their nearly three-year-old son Noam watching on. The Sunday Runners co-founder dug deep into his reserves, and had a serious scare in the process. “I started having intestinal problems at 25 km,” he reveals. “I finished dehydrated. I didn’t have enough water in my bloodstream.” His body gave out while he was eating a piece of orange. “They took me away on a stretcher. They brought out the defibrillator.” Hospitalised under observation in Vannes, the thirty-something had an ECG resembling that of someone who had suffered a heart attack. The finding can be explained by a highly trained heart, typical of endurance athletes.

Nantes 12 Hours, a winning choice

Action followed by reaction. Since his chaotic race, the distance runner has brought in a nutrition coach. “With Florian Mouchel, we carried out sweat tests.” The man whose resting heart rate is 36 beats per minute also tested his ability to take on carbohydrates. “I increased my intake during exercise without any digestive discomfort.” When we spoke by phone three days before his 12-hour race in Nantes, Emmanuel Bonnier was already preparing for the challenge. Since then, he has produced a major performance in the city of Jules Verne. The full-scale test could hardly have gone better. The Angers runner dominated the race, covering 145.033 km at 4:58 per kilometre. Enough to aim high in Occitanie.

Beyond the time, the property owner and manager will also race to make dreams come true for children with cancer, at various stages of the disease, by supporting the association Ô Ma Vie. “All the money raised will go to the oncology departments at the university hospitals in Nantes and Angers.” Disneyland Paris is a dream destination for some of the 60 children involved, with the added bonus of meeting their favourite characters. “Sometimes, one of the parents has to stop working. The costs are significant.” The goal is to help fund some of these trips and “put stars in their eyes”. Bonnier himself could be dazzled by his own performance.

Having never run beyond 100 km before July, Emmanuel Bonnier is continuing his meteoric rise at the 24-hour World Championships in Albi in mid-October, with the aim of qualifying for the French Championships in Tullins, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, in April 2026. We used to know him mainly for his offbeat challenges. Now we know him for his humanity and his performances.