Twins: an advantage in running?

No, you weren’t seeing double: when Michaël Gras crosses the finish line, his brother Damien Gras appears in the home straight a few minutes later. And if, by chance, they swapped places in the results, it would be very hard to tell. Being twins and elite athletes is everyday life for the 33-year-old Gras brothers. But they are not the only ones to share their passion as a duo: Amélie and Carole Sinquin, both 32, are equally drawn to the sport. When one shines over the marathon distance, the other stands out over 5K. A closer look at a sport where being twins can make the difference... or not.

Training, motivating and performing as a pair: a genuine advantage

Working as a pair, whether as a “couple”, meaning two distinct individuals with a shared way of functioning, or as a “double”, mirroring each other and doing everything alike, brings plenty of advantages, particularly in a sport where body shape plays a decisive role in performance. From a very young age, the Sinquin sisters took part in one sport after another, always side by side. « We were a bit of all-rounders. We changed activities every term, » recalls Amélie, the older of the two sisters. Athletics soon became the obvious choice. « We started by taking part in small races in our village. During one of them, our father saw us coming into the stadium and thought we had a beautiful stride, because he was a bit of a runner himself, ». At 10, they joined the Pontivy club, then attended the sports-focused lycée in Cesson-Sévigné, where one concentrated more on 1500m while the other moved towards 800m. « My sister did short cross country, while I was more into the longer races. She doesn’t really like hills or too much elevation gain. »

The Gras brothers followed a similar path, immersed in sport from an early age and rarely apart. « We’ve always more or less done the same things. Our parents signed us up for football when we were about seven, » Michaël recalls. Spotted by the athletics coach at Pessac AC, whose son played on their team, they made their mark in cross country as youngsters. « He saw that we ran well in the pre-season and, above all, that we enjoyed it. So he had us try cross country, and in the end we won quite easily, without training all that much, » They nevertheless stood out in different events: one leaning more towards 800m and 1500m, the other towards 3000m. « But it really did come down to the details... » Michaël insists.

Sharing workouts proved beneficial for both pairs. « Training with someone at the same level worked well. It wasn’t easy to find training partners who suited us day to day. And if one of us didn’t feel like going for a run, because we were tired or had a minor niggle, the other would motivate them to go, » Michaël explains. Amélie agrees, recalling weekends spent back at their parents’ home: « We were at boarding school, and when we went home, we knew we wouldn’t have to do our sessions alone. We immediately had our partner, which made training and motivating each other easier. It was a strength, » she says. Michaël confirms it: « Being twins allowed us to help each other through our professional and sporting careers. Sport was often a priority in all our life choices. I remember the Thule Half Marathon, where we raced side by side and crossed the finish line together in a sprint because we were exactly the same level. »

Competition can lift you higher, but it must stay healthy

At other times, though, the competitive instinct took over. « It’s difficult to cross the line holding hands. You want to find out who’s better. At the interregional cross-country championships in Carcassonne, we had a big lead over the competition, but that didn’t stop us finishing in a sprint. We’re competitors with each other first and foremost, » Michaël explains. There was rivalry, but it was healthy, » he adds. Even during training sessions, the determination not to finish behind the other pushed them to go further. Positive for progress, certainly. « When I was a little ahead in training, he wanted to run the same times as me, so he did what it took to match them, and that pushed both of us upwards, » he says. But it could also turn negative when injuries became inevitable and the body reached its limits. « The downside is that we tend to compare ourselves too much. My brother often got injured because of it. He would hang on, having to fight a little harder to keep up with me in training and to pursue the same goals. He was always running slightly beyond his means, so he got injured frequently. »

Back then, the Sinquin sisters spent all their time together, to the point where they sometimes compared themselves, leaving the younger sister frustrated by her sibling’s results. « There was always a bit of a running battle in cross country. Sometimes I felt frustrated because my father was proud of both of us. But I told myself he was prouder of her because she had finished higher, » she admits, before acknowledging how lucky she is to share those moments with her sister. But unconsciously, I think it helps, because running together is motivating. » 

Taking time apart to preserve healthy competition

Throughout their lives, both professionally and athletically, these pairs of twins will evolve together, then separately. They will reunite, then move apart. Finding their own path can be the key, as Damien Gras discovered at one point. Michaël describes their temporary separation: « He tried changing coaches for a year or two, so he could have different training from me. He had lost a lot of time to injuries and couldn’t return to the same programme. Well, he could have, but he would have compared himself too much. In the end, leaving didn’t necessarily work out well, because our strength is training together, » he says. After going their separate ways and then coming back together, they achieved everything as a pair, eventually becoming a rehabilitation physician and an anatomical pathologist respectively.

For others, the separation comes later. When it is time to build a family life, their paths diverge. Originally from Morbihan, Amélie stayed in Brittany, in Rennes, while Carole now lives in Normandy. One is an operating-theatre nurse, the other a dentist. Medicine drives them, but it is not the only thing they share. Running continues to bring them together from a distance. « Whenever she comes to Rennes, when we’re in the same place or go back to my parents’ home, I try to send her the workout I have to do, and we do it together. It’s easier, » Amélie says.

Without discussing it with each other, Amélie and Carole both returned to running in 2022. When one became pregnant and stopped training, the other got back into it for good. « Our comebacks more or less coincided. Before my pregnancy, I ran my first 10K without knowing my pace for the distance. I set off at 40-minute pace and felt good, so I ran 39:17, » she says. Although they remain drawn to different distances, with one favouring shorter races, especially 5K and 10K, and the other longer events, alternating between trail, half marathon and marathon, they savour every chance to run together despite living far apart. « Since we started running again, we’ve never had the chance to race together. We’re going to run the Amsterdam Half Marathon in October. I’m sponsored by Mizuno and, since they sponsor the race, I asked them to give us a bib each. The idea is to wear the same kit, since we look as alike as two peas in a pod, and finish hand in hand. We’ll push each other and take turns setting the pace to run the fastest time possible. That’s when you really see the advantage of being at the same level, » she says. They also both keep their father’s dream in mind: winning the Pontivy Marathon, near their village, hand in hand.

The same dynamic seems to be bringing the Gras brothers, both members of Alès Cévennes Athlétisme, closer together. They are both going through « a slightly more complicated period, » linked to adult life and, in one case, the demands of family life. Although they live in the same city, Clermont-Ferrand, the Saint-Médard 10K in March marked their return to the start line together: « Lately, it’s true that we’ve both been injured on and off. In recent years, we’ve rarely managed to train and race together. ». Damien finished ahead of his brother, who was impressed and delighted to see him back at that level: « He finished third and I was fourth. I was a little surprised by his performance because he’s training very little at the moment. I hoped it would give him fresh motivation to resume serious training, but apparently that’s not really the case, » he says. Damien remains deeply attached to sport, whether that means running, riding through mud, racing on the road or climbing mountain passes. 

 We’re going to run the Amsterdam Half Marathon in October. I’m sponsored by Mizuno and, since they sponsor the race, I asked them to give us a bib each. The idea is to wear the same kit, since we look as alike as two peas in a pod, and finish hand in hand.  

An advantage rooted in shared genes

The Sinquin sisters’ ability to perform together comes down to their similar stride and identical build. « We have good natural attributes: we’re tall and slim, with the same build. Coming through athletics school gave us solid foundations for road running: good posture and strong cardio, » they explain. The Gras brothers are just as clear on the subject: « I think we have the right build, with obvious natural advantages. We couldn’t have reached this level through training alone, even though we did everything needed to put our abilities into practice. »

Beyond the undeniable physical similarities shared by twins, a deeper and almost inexplicable connection seems to emerge among the brothers from Bordeaux, as it does among the Breton sisters. Michaël Gras describes a striking observation: « I would often have the same aches as him, just a little later. It allowed me to anticipate certain injuries. I think there’s a major physiological component, » he says. But he is not the only one to describe such a phenomenon. « The feeling of telepathy always reflects an exceptionally close psychological bond between identical twins, » explains René Zazzo, a French clinical and academic psychologist, in his book Les jumeaux, le couple et la personne. « The astonishing emotional attunement observed in identical twins, much more frequently and intensely than in other twins, leads to shared patterns of language, thought and bodily reactions, which can go as far as a sense of parapsychological phenomena such as mind-to-mind communication and telepathy, » he writes. During a cross-country race, Carole reportedly arrived in tears, sensing that something had happened to her sister. Amélie had in fact suffered a vasovagal episode, while « she had felt that something was wrong inside her, » Carole says. This is just one of many stories in which « worry appears without knowing where it comes from. Sometimes we call each other and I ask, “Are you OK? Nothing wrong?” To me, it’s a bit supernatural ».

Being twins is obviously not a prerequisite for performing in running, even if training as a pair brings certain physical, physiological and mental advantages. For some, sharing the sport can even prove counterproductive because it encourages comparison. To keep the pace in a healthy spirit, Michaël Gras says you need to be « very close as brothers, even almost inseparable,», which is not the case for every “couple” or “double”. From the outside, their similarities attract interest, both from brands following the athletes and from spectators, because « the fascination twins exert on those who try to understand them » (in the book « Les jumeaux : 1 fois 2 ou 2 fois 1 ? » by Christian Robineau and Mireille Wojakowski) is profoundly human.