Can the “awesome” Courtney Dauwalter beat the best runners in the world?

From our special correspondent in Chamonix,

Just with her casual basketball shorts and headphones sometimes screwed to the ears, “with a playlist to fight against hard knocks”, Courtney Dauwalter detonates in the world of ultra-trail. The 36-year-old American appeared more radiant than ever, this Saturday, when validating a sacred double on the UTMB (2019 and 2021). And for good reason, six weeks after a disillusionment with the Hardrock 100 (giving up halfway while she was in the lead, but suddenly “without energy”), she destroyed her previous record in Chamonix, with two hours less for cover the 171 km and 10,000 m of elevation gain (10:30 p.m.).

A masterclass that she spontaneously blames her change of diet, since she only bet on liquid from the halfway point in Courmayeur, when she was neck and neck with the Swedish Mimmi Kotka (3rd in the end). “I was jealous when I saw the competitors eating at the aid stations,” she smiles.

It seems trivial, but the American, who also agreed to be equipped with a survival blanket on her stomach to spend the night, had to do violence to comply with such an effort. “A few years ago, she was able to eat a hamburger and absolutely anything at the ravitos,” said Grégory Vollet, her manager with Team Salomon international. This is perhaps the first time that I have seen her seriously preparing for a race. “To listen to him, the dilettantism of Courtney Dauwalter, who was assisted by her husband during the UTMB, goes well beyond the question of diet.

She participates in all forms of trails that exist, from 100 to 200 miles, track races, the Barkley or personal projects of 500 miles. I have to brake her all the time in training. For example, she will embark on a 24-hour elevation gain to accompany a friend or spend a day on a treadmill for a humanitarian cause. Except that she doesn’t warn me, and I’m always afraid that with her bullshit, she’ll burn herself out before reaching her goals. “

“All the time for fun and ease”

A crippling flaw to register over time at the highest level? “No, if I had to restrain it, it would be unhappy and it would perhaps not be as efficient any more, analyzes Grégory Vollet. It is in excess that she finds pleasure. It brings freshness to the trail because it is not in a competitive approach. She is fun and easy all the time. “An ease that quickly twisted any form of suspense on the women’s table, Camille Bruyas (2nd) reaching the finish line more than 1.5 hours after her. But do not believe that the second part of the race of Courtney Dauwalter, “one of the greatest athletes of all time” (dixit Kilian Jornet himself), was in this context of no great interest.

She thus completed the event in 7th place in the scratch, men and women combined (she was “only” 21st in 2019). “It is impressive, glides with admiration Aurélien Dunand-Pallaz (2nd). It really is proof that girls can compete with men in the ultra trail world. There, she is ahead of male references in the discipline. »Starting with Grégoire Curmer, 8th half an hour behind the American, two years after winning the legendary Diagonale des Fous in Reunion Island (165 km, 9,576 m D +).

“The same personality as Rory Bosio”

Her propensity to fight with the World Top 10 present on the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc reminds Catherine Poletti, co-founder of the event, of the performances of another American, Rory Bosio, also twice victorious on the UTMB (2013 and 2014)… and 7th in the general classification in 2013. “Courtney is fabulous, I find in her the same personality not taking herself as seriously as Rory Bosio had, confides the president of the UTMB Group. I think one day men will have to worry about [Camille Bruyas et Mimmi Kotka ont également fini dans le Top 25 samedi]. »

Courtney Dauwalter is not at her first attempt, since she was entitled in 2017 to the favors of New York Times, after his scratch success on the Moab 240 (383 km) in the middle of the Utah desert in less than 58 hours, and with… more than 10 hours ahead of his first pursuer! “Even if there weren’t the best elite runners in the world that day, she really has a gift for endurance,” smiles Grégory Vollet. She shows that she is alone on her planet compared to the female competition. “

“She is always guided more by pleasure than by the objective”

An observation that could now encourage her to compare herself to the performance of the best male ultra-trail runners on the planet, even if she finished at 1:45 behind François D’Haene on this UTMB? “No, when I start a race, I do not think about whether I am facing men or women, assured the smiling blonde this Saturday. I just want to do my best. »And to follow up with a phenomenal show by leaping from everywhere to clap the hands of all the spectators of the last 200 meters in Chamonix, as if these 22:30 hours of struggle against itself in the middle of the mountains had only been a formality.

Grégory Vollet is much more sensitive to the impact that a triumph, historic for a trail runner, could have on an ultra major. “I imagine she could win very big scratch races,” he says. It would be necessary to choose the event which could perfectly suit him. It may become a goal for her in the years to come. But we know that she is always guided more by pleasure than by the objective… ”