Equilibrium

The Exceptional Balance Of Vincent Bouillard

Words By Like The Wind / Photography By Aisha Mcadams

Lots of people talk about the concept of “balance” in life. Fewer of them do so after winning two of the world’s most competitive ultra marathons, while still holding down a day job. Oh, and starting a family too. But for Vincent Bouillard, his victory – and course record – at Western States Endurance Run (WSER) this year is the result of what he calls a “very fine” balance.
Vincent astonished the running world in 2024 when he won the 100-mile Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB) as an unsponsored athlete. Working as a research and development engineer for HOKA, he’d been to the race many times, but had only recently begun racing ultras seriously. Even though he grew up playing sports and adventuring in the French Alps, it was never with a very competitive perspective.

A Sustainable Relationship To Running

From the beginning, it was the running itself that drew Vincent to the sport. “I thrived in the training,” he says about his high school track and field days. “It confirmed that running was, of all the sports, the thing that got me. I got the most satisfaction out of it. But really, it was rarely during races or competition that I would thrive. It was just the process of training with friends.”
At the end of each track season, though, Vincent had an itch for big mountain adventures, attracted by what trail running offered even before he really understood it as a competitive sport. He compares his high school regimen to that of his wife Kamilah Journet, who hails from Southern California. While he was running three to four days a week, she was logging 100-mile weeks, eventually running collegiately for UC San Diego. Looking back, he says his softer entry into trail running may have helped allow what would be a more sustainable love of the sport for him.

For The Love Of The Process

After moving in with Kamilah in Southern California in early 2020, Bouillard found himself spending much of his pandemic-era free time outdoors.
“There was no competition happening, no races on the calendar, but I trained so much during those times,” he says. “Again, just for the love of the process – and being in a new region and exploring tons of places on my bike.”
He built a strong base of endurance and began to think seriously, for the first time in his life, about what he could truly be capable of as an athlete. But anything he would accomplish, athletically, would have to fit in with the other priorities in his life.
After committing to training properly, Vincent surprised himself with a win at the Le Bélier 27K while back in Europe in 2022.
“No one would say that was a highlight for my career, but for me, it was a big deal,” he says. “I didn’t quite think that I had it in me and I was in front of two guys I knew, one of whom is one of my closest friends. And I had so much fun.”
Soon after, he also logged wins at the Gorge Waterfalls 100K and 100-mile Kodiak Ultra back in the United States, qualifying for UTMB.

A Team Effort

When he broke the tape at UTMB in 2024, Vincent was still working in innovation for HOKA. They promptly signed him to their athlete team too, but he kept his research and design job part time even as he set his sights on the Western States Endurance Run.
What would it take to become one of only four men to win both UTMB and WSER? For Vincent, it was laying out a foundation and strategy that would allow him to truly keep enjoying the process itself.
When he talks about his training and wins, Vincent purposefully uses the word “we” instead of “I”. Between his UTMB and WSER victories, he and his wife had a baby. Being strategic in their planning and priorities is what Vincent says helped him be able to fully commit to the training and still enjoy it. Keeping things sustainable, in a word. For example, ahead of WSER when many other athletes were attending training camps, Vincent travelled with his family.
“That was a choice, to clearly make that compromise – this is how we proceed as a team and this is how life everyone’s going to be most happy,” he says.
The training is still exhausting and of course doubts arise. But having agreed on a strategy together as a team freed him to enjoy himself through his daily runs, knowing they were sticking to the plan they’d made together.

A Very Fine Balance

After a DNF in 2025, Vincent returned to WSER lining up against a notably deep field, including former winners Kilian Jornet and Jim Walmsley. Gradually working his way up on an unusually cool day for a notoriously hot race, he took the lead in the final 10 miles, paving the way for the entire podium to finish under the 14-hour mark and breaking the course record.
In his quiet, modest style, Vincent is the first to put his race in a broader perspective.
“I try not to overthink any consequences or ‘meaning’,” he says. “It was just a lot of work. And this time around, things turned and clicked and it all worked out. There are days that are like this and it’s all great.”
The WSER victory was, ultimately, one of many projects in the life of Vincent Bouillard. After the years of intense training building up to it, he finds comfort in getting back to the day-to-day routine.
“I hope that there are other things that can bring me satisfaction as well, that I can be equally proud of having accomplished,” he says, imagining himself 50 years from now. Maybe it does all come down to balance.
“I’m a young dad and before becoming a dad I’ve been a husband,” he says. “I have friends and family members – and all of these relationships together with work life, all these spheres in life are part of the equilibrium.”

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