Nicolas Cointepas

About

Nicolas Cointepas (born 22 February 1971) is a French ultra-distance runner from Mures who has built one of the most eclectic and durable careers in European ultrarunning. Beginning as a road marathon and trail runner in 1990 before shifting to ultra-distance events in 2001, he proceeded to accumulate over 10,500km of recorded ultra-marathon racing across 78 events and every conceivable format the sport offers: mountain trail, road ultra, 24-hour, and backyard ultra. He completed the UTMB six times and tackled the Tor des Géants (321km) in 2010, finishing 13th. His most notable single-event result came at the 2015 L'Intégrale de Riquet (240km), where he finished second overall, and in 2016 he covered 227km in 24 hours at Roche la Molière. He completed Spartathlon — the 246km Athens-to-Sparta race — in 2017 in 24:57:11. In recent years Cointepas has evolved into a leading backyard ultra specialist: he has won multiple French Backyard Ultra championship events and, in 2024, led the French team to victory at the Big's Backyard Ultra World Team Championships, where the squad completed 563.3km across 84 hours of continuous running. With a UTMB Index of 608, he remains one of France's most committed and versatile ultra-distance veterans.

Notable Wins

• — Tor des Géants 321km 2010 13th
• — L'Intégrale de Riquet 240km 2015 2nd
• — UTMB 6x finisher
• — Spartathlon 2017 (24:57:11)
• — Big's Backyard Ultra World Team Championships 2024 (France team
• — 563.3km in 84h)

Race History