Mathieu Blanchard has registered at short notice to be on the start list for the Ultra Trail du Mont-Blanc next Friday.
The French star finished second (2022), third (2021) and fourth (2023) in trail racing’s biggest race over the past three years.
In this record-breaking race in 2022, he and winner Kilian Jornet were the first men to break the 20-hour mark.
But despite a 100 percent track record in major races in 2024, with victories at the Marathon des Lumières de la Muzelle and the MaXi-Race le tour du lac d’annecy en 1 jour, his participation in Chamonix was somewhat questionable.
However, he announced via his social media channels that he now has the green light in the truest sense of the word: “🟢🟢🟢🔴 ➡️ 🟢🟢🟢🟢”.
“I will be at the start of the UTMB”
And what exactly that means, he explained in a long and detailed post on his LinkedIn page, with the English translation as follows: “Until Tuesday, I only had 3 out of 4 green lights. But that’s it, it’s official! I will be at the start of the UTMB 👇
“When I decided to take part in a race, I thought for a long time: ‘Let’s get started and then we’ll see.'”
“But my vision of the sport has evolved. I don’t want to be a shooting star, but rather aim for a long-term career.
“I have seen too many athletes whose careers lasted only a few years and who did not recover from overtraining.
“It’s often related to a thyroid problem. And it can be irreversible. I don’t want that to happen to me.”
“I knew that all my lights had to be green to multiply my chances of success with this combination.
“Because I know from experience that recovery takes much longer if I start with an orange marker.
The four key markers for Blanchard
“Here are the 4 markers I measure when I decide to enter a big race:
🟢 Physical: my cardiovascular, muscular and general fitness
🟢 Mental: my resting state and my mental stress
🟢 Energetic: my motivation and my inner flame, the desire to fight
🟠 Biological: various blood markers (hormonology, kidneys, liver-pancreas, etc.)
“Generally, my biomarkers are in the red zone right after a race, and that’s normal. 2-3 weeks later, they’re back in the green zone.
“Except that some of my liver values have been out of the norm for a long time.
“I pursued my research to the extreme. Until the day before yesterday I met a hepatologist.
“It reassured me a lot. Liver values are designed for a sedentary and often sick society. Especially since they vary from country to country.”
“It’s normal for a top athlete to have different standards. And my values are not at all worrying.”
“In fact, he was so interested in my approach that we will probably continue this relationship to move the study forward (echo, MRI, fibroscan, etc. at different times of the year).
“Ultra trail running is still very new. We don’t yet know the impact this sport can have. And I’m proud to be able to contribute to it at my level.”
“My biomarker gets the green light 🟢
Who are the favorites at the UTMB?
“As in business, when working on a new offering, you usually wait until the last moment to decide whether to launch it. The product is ready. Can I deliver it? 🙂
“On to a new UTMB adventure!!”
This is great news for the race and he will be one of the favourites alongside riders such as defending champion Jim Walmsley and Tom Evans.
Blanchard’s UTMB index score is 905, putting him eighth in a list led by Walmsley with 935.
