Breathing and performance: what do elite champions really do?

Not quite as obvious as it seems

The first time you pay close attention to your breathing, you usually end up smiling, slightly bewildered at the idea of having to “relearn” something as basic as breathing, a function without which you would not last very long. Breath-holding, overly chest-dominant breathing, not enough diaphragmatic breathing: the surprises keep coming. The subject remains open even among elite athletes, with no consensus in sight. In 2019, when Eliud Kipchoge broke the mythical two-hour barrier in Vienna in a bespoke event organised specifically for him, one detail caught people’s attention: his breathing remained almost imperceptible, even at 20 km/h. “It was as if he wasn’t breathing”, noted the New York Times in its video analysis. Yet behind that apparent ease was meticulous training. His coach Patrick Sang told Kenya’s Daily Nation in 2019: “We have been working on breathing since 2003. Eliud can maintain 180 steps per minute with just 22 breathing cycles”.

That is an exceptional capacity, well above the average for most marathoners. According to a Loughborough University study, 95% of elite marathoners exceed 30 cycles at that pace. Although Kipchoge told Runner’s World in 2018, “I don’t focus on my breathing during races”, he certainly works on it in training. His coach has spoken of respiratory control to minimise wasted energy on the exhale, but it is difficult to uncover much more about the champion’s breathing. Dr Alison McConnell, author of Breathe Strong, Perform Better, points out: “The best runners breathe half as much as recreational runners for the same effort. But we do not know whether that is the cause or the consequence of their efficiency”. Even champions remain divided on breathing training. “I’ve tried every method, and nothing beats instinct”, Haile Gebrselassie told Runner’s World in 2018. It echoes a quote from French physiologist Véronique Billat: “Optimal breathing is the breathing you forget about”.

Breathing: what the champions say

In the 2010s, Patrick McKeown’s Oxygen Advantage method enjoyed its moment in the sun. Based on nasal breathing and increasing CO2 tolerance, it promised significant gains. Yet runners’ feedback is more or less unanimous: for efforts at moderate intensity, the technique works. But when the effort becomes intense, when the body demands deep gulps of oxygen to keep going, mouth breathing once again becomes essential.

American physiologist Steve Magness, author of The Science of Running, says much the same: “Most breathing methods work… up to a point. Once fatigue sets in, the body takes over”. Trail running legend Kilian Jornet discusses it in his book Above the Clouds (2023): “At altitude, I breathe through my nose up to 85% of my maximum heart rate. Beyond that, science shows it becomes counterproductive. In an ultra-trail race, after twenty hours of effort, nobody is thinking about their breathing. Either you have built the right rhythm into your running long before, or it is too late”. The Catalan does, however, mention specific exercises at altitude, where thinner air demands particular attention to breathing cycles. Shalane Flanagan, winner of the New York City Marathon in 2017, spent years experimenting with different techniques: “In training, I sometimes practise nasal breathing on easy runs. But in competition, when the pain arrives, all the theory goes out the window. You fall back on primal reflexes.”

Finding the middle ground

Scientists now advocate a more nuanced approach. “Breathing should not become an obsession, warns Dr Jean-Marie Defossez, author of La Respiration : Clé de la Performance. “But ignoring its potential would be a mistake.” Several studies, including one published in 2020 in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research, show that strengthening the respiratory muscles can deliver tangible benefits, with performance gains of around 3 to 5%. “These are marginal gains, but in endurance sport, the margins often make the difference”, the researcher explains. Faced with these contradictions and the testimony of professional athletes, a few conclusions emerge. Practising nasal breathing can offer some gains, but it will not revolutionise your entire approach. It is one detail among the many that shape performance. The best route remains an ever more precise understanding of your body, its limits and its strengths… The truth probably lies in that fragile balance between awareness and letting go.