Cassandre Beaugrand, Élise Marc, Alexis Hanquinquant… Running is these international triathletes’ biggest weapon

A nightmare for some. Pure joy for others. After getting their legs moving in the water and loosening them up on the bike, triathletes take on the run. For a host of French athletes, running is the easy part. Their results in the discipline are enough to leave people stunned, and they are rarely overtaken in the closing kilometres. Élise Marc, who finished runner-up at the European Para Triathlon Championships (PTS3) in Besançon last June, is a specialist in the discipline. “Once I get onto the run, that’s when I can really express myself,” says the PTS3 world champion in Torremolinos last year. With three run sessions a week, including an easy run, threshold work and VMA intervals, the Isère native regularly travels to Nice to make sure her Ottobock running blades are still performing at their best. “I go every three months for maintenance and to check the valves,” explains Samuel Bellenoue’s protégé, who has been coached by him since February. On the end of her prostheses, the keen trail runner wears the adidas Adizero Adios Pro Evo 1. “Honestly, they fly,” she says with a smile.

She has a 5,000 m personal best of 17:56, set at the European Company Sport Games in Bordeaux in 2023. The INSA-trained engineer will turn her attention to the World Championships in Wollongong, southeastern Australia, before the end of October. Then comes the big target: the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games. After two editions in which her category, PTS3 for significant impairments, was not represented and she had to compete alongside athletes with moderate impairments in PTS4, the youngest of three siblings will finally be able to fight on equal terms in the United States in three years’ time. Much to her delight…

© FFTRI / Puurfilm / Théo Gomez

From lockdown triathlon to Eliud Kipchoge

He had dreamed of it since he was a kid. Thibault Escaich, better known as Triathlon Thibault on social media, got to speak with marathon GOAT Eliud Kipchoge after running 42.195 km in 2:42 at the 2023 Berlin Marathon. “I was invited by Nike. Karl Bebendorf, who finished third in the 3,000 m steeplechase at the 2024 European Championships in Rome behind Alexis Miellet and Djilali Bedrani, was my pacemaker for 20 kilometres,” says the 23-year-old, who previously trained in athletics near Toulouse with Athlé 632. “People often told me I had a beautiful, light stride,” he explains. He has a 10 km best of 32:55, set in Tournefeuille in Occitanie the morning after a night out. He has been chasing that mark for four years. The former STAPS student got into triathlon almost by accident. “It was during Covid. Two friends and I each created an account. I’d always wanted to work in events. We did an M-distance triathlon in lockdown in November 2019,” says the athlete, who has just returned from an altitude camp in Font-Romeu. It was a performance for a good cause, raising €1,700 for the Paris public hospitals. The start of a completely crazy adventure. “I haven’t stopped since.”

With four to five swim sessions a week, 10 to 15 hours on the bike and six to eight hours running, the man with the unmistakable southern accent is deep into his preparation for the Ironman Cascais in Portugal. On Sunday 13 July, the former junior tennis player won the Haut Languedoc M-distance triathlon, made up of 1.5 km of swimming, 40 km of cycling and a 10 km run. He also produced a fine acceleration in his strongest discipline. “When I got off the bike, they told me I was four minutes down and in second. Over 10 km, that’s a tough gap to close. I finally caught him at the 8 km mark and then pulled away,” he says, savouring the result. He had been hoping to qualify for the 2026 World Championships in the 18–24 age group, but recently learned that the selection criteria for his category had been tightened. Making it to Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, would now be close to a miracle. To give himself the best possible chance, he will spend time with Arnaud Guilloux, the first Frenchman to win the long-distance Triathlon Alpe d’Huez in 2015, in the coming weeks. It should give him a few ideas.

Cassandre Beaugrand smashes the French 5 km record, Alexis Hanquinquant remains unbeatable

On 9 February, triathlon world and Olympic champion Cassandre Beaugrand erased the French 5 km benchmark, previously held by Sara Benfares for her 2022 run in Hyères, at the Monaco Run Gramaglia, clocking 14:53. It was hardly a surprise given her record in the discipline: a 33:12 10 km personal best at 19, five French junior cross-country titles between 2013 and 2017, and a 15:20 split over the 4,900 m triathlon run in Hamburg in July 2024… Completely outrageous times.

His is one of the most impressive records in French sport. The list goes on. And on. Two Olympic titles, seven world championships and eight European titles… Unbeaten since 2019, Alexis Hanquinquant relies on his run to seal his many victories, just like Dorian Coninx, Vincent Luis, Pierre Le Corre and Jules Ribstein (PTS2). The French have serious weapons to deploy on the road…

There is no question that running gives these nationally and internationally renowned triathletes a confidence boost when they hit the road after the swim and bike. For some, that advantage can be traced back to an athletic background.