Romain Olivier

About

Romain Olivier is a French ultrarunner who has emerged as the Tor des Géants' most relentless challenger, twice finishing as runner-up at the legendary 330km traverse of Italy's Aosta Valley in consecutive editions. He took second place in 2022 in 69:49, pushing four-time champion Franco Collè hard to the finish, then returned in 2023 for an even more dramatic pursuit: the two men ran shoulder-to-shoulder for three days through 24,000 metres of climbing until Collè exploited Olivier's sleep crisis in the descent toward Rifugio Magià to break away and win in a new course record of 66:39. The spectacle of Olivier and Collè trading positions over hundreds of kilometres of Alpine terrain — each carrying the other through difficult stretches before the decisive moment — captured exactly what makes the Tor des Géants exceptional among the world's mountain ultra races. His back-to-back second-place finishes rank him among the most accomplished multi-day mountain ultra specialists in Europe, and among the French runners best equipped for the format's unique demands: accumulated climbing, sleep deprivation management, and psychological endurance across more than three days of continuous racing.

Notable Wins

• — Tor des Géants 2nd 2022
• — Tor des Géants 2nd 2023

Race History