• The Paris Marathon will take place on April 2nd. On this occasion, 20 Minutes offers you weekly portraits of participants.
  • Accustomed to playing the leading roles in trail races, Lyon's Yoann Stuck (40) will participate for the first time in this mythical road race.
  • This one, which aims for a time under 2h30 in Paris, offers for four months free training to running enthusiasts in the Lyon region.

"Come on, a minute of rest... Well, personally, I like to do push-ups at that time. Twice a week since last October, Yoann Stuck has been making life difficult for a training group of about ten runners that he meets in the 5th arrondissement of Lyon and Ecully (Rhône). "I try to motivate the Lyonnais to go outside," explains this elite trail runner. The city offers beautiful little paths and between the two hills, you can really have fun and find elevation. It is also the way for him to best prepare for a 2023 season that he has planned "in a rolling format".

Because at just 40 years old, Yoann Stuck has set himself a new funny challenge: to participate for the first time in his life in the Paris Marathon. An astonishing turn of 42.195 km for an athlete accustomed to performances on trails combining large differences in altitude and often long distances. For the past year, the Lyonnais has climbed on the podium of the Ecotrail de Paris (79 km and 1,450 m of D +), the Ardèche trail (57 km and 2,400 m of D +), and the Ut4M (177 km and 13,000 m of D + in four stages). In December, he even won the Half Marathon des Sables in Peru, with 120 km (1,440 m D +) covered in three stages and 10:30 in total. Before embarking on a similar eco-adventure in Turkey in May, he will be in Paris on April 2.

"Light years away from the best marathon runners"

And this, with the only precedent on the queen distance of the road a time of 2h33, synonymous with victory that day, during the first Marathon des vins de la Côte Chalonnaise in 2017. "There, I would like to complete this marathon in less than 2h30. I want to show that I can be versatile, and therefore perform well in the city, "summarizes the sales consultant in the running shop Spode, located in the city center of Lyon. This specialist of 80-100 km in the mountains admits "not even knowing the best times of the Paris Marathon". Before widening his eyes when he was told that the record, signed by Kenyan Elisha Rotich in 2021, is 2:04.

I'm used to running much longer distances and I'm light years away from the best marathoners," he says. I will be in my bubble and I will run for myself, at the pace necessary to pass under 2h30. This is the discipline where the most regularity and humility are needed. I'm going to put my head down a bit at the start and let the Kenyans go ahead. Their aerial strides are beautiful to see, it has nothing to do with my big thighs! »

No preferential airlock in Paris

The most famous bearded man in the world of trail running does not lack humor or enthusiasm before tackling this challenge: "It gives me pleasure to discover the Paris marathon, which is historic, and which has the advantage of being programmed at the beginning of the season. So he doesn't plant me at all my preparation for the trail. On the other hand, he obviously has to change his training in recent weeks, by integrating "track sessions". But by the way, can an elite trail runner hope to perform very well in the medium term on the road? "Jim Walmsley still runs the semi in 1:02," says Yoann Stuck, determined to show that the worlds of road running and trail running do not have to be compartmentalized.

"We notice that many athletes go from road running to trail running, and I find it funny to break the codes by going the other way," smiles the Lyonnais. Nevertheless, the latter faces a major difficulty in view of 2 April. "I will not be able to be in a preferential airlock (2h30) of elite runner because in the eyes of the organization, I have no race to justify my presence, he confides. For example, I won the Traversée des Dentelles de Montmirail (21 km) in 1h14, but this event cannot be taken into account for the Paris marathon. »

"I smoked 30 cigarettes a day"

Yoann Stuck is no longer one difficulty in his "atypical career". "In 2010, I weighed 95 kg, I smoked 30 cigarettes a day for eleven years and I chained pints of whisky coca in the evening, says the guy, who lived then near Avignon. And as I worked in the evenings at a pizzaïolo, I turned at least one pizza a day ... »

Our file on the Paris marathon

The change of course has therefore been total for the current high-level trail runner, who now weighs 70 kg. One year after his discovery of the Paris marathon, Yoann Stuck would like to tackle, for the first time in 2024, another mythical race, the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB), in its flagship format of 170 km (and 10,000 m of elevation gain). A big gap that fits perfectly to the character.

  • Sport
  • Paris Marathon
  • Marathon
  • Running
  • Trail
  • Lyon
  • Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
  • Rhône-Alpes
  • Paris
  • Ile