Vincent Bouillard & Kamilah Journet | Western States 2025 Pre-Race Interview

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Jun 26, 2025

Vincent Bouillard, a HOKA athlete and 2024 UTMB champion, and his wife Kamilah Journet, a seasoned running industry professional at Salomon, share insights on their exciting journey. They discuss the whirlwind of attention after Vincent's UTMB victory and how it has transformed their lives. They also reveal their upcoming parenthood and how that shapes their approach to running. With Vincent preparing for his first Western States, they highlight the importance of community support and teamwork in ultrarunning, making this conversation both personal and inspiring.

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ANECDOTE

Kamilah's UTMB Reaction

After Vincent's UTMB win, Kamilah felt disbelief and joy, reflecting on a year full of change and challenge.
The win felt natural to them, approached like any other race with dedication rather than pressure.

INSIGHT

Navigating Life Post-UTMB Win

Significant life and career decisions came after Vincent's UTMB win, which they approached with care and community support.
Vincent balanced his engineering role with his growing professional athletic career, embracing privilege in having choices.

ADVICE

Prioritize Quality Over Quantity

Vincent transitioned to part-time engineering to focus on quality training rather than volume.
Prioritize quality, rest, and mental space to improve athletic performance sustainably.

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This interview is part of Freetrail's coverage of the 2025 Western States 100, the most important trail running event in North America. Our shows and athlete interviews are hosted each day by Dylan Bowman who sits down to talk with some of the favorites who are racing this year.

In this interview, Dylan talks to professional runner and 2024 UTMB champion, Vincent Bouillard (HOKA athlete & employee) for a pre-race interview. Vincent is joined by his wife and running industry veteran, Kamilah Journet. Vincent won UTMB in 2024 in what many consider the breakout performance of the year. Those who knew Vincent, were not surprised, but most of the trail running world watched along in awe as a humble, longtime HOKA employee ran away with the race and won UTMB. Vincent signed with HOKA as an athlete earlier this year so he can focus more on running, while still maintaining his high powered job. Vincent raced his way into Western States at Chainti by UTMB in March and this will be his first go at the race on Saturday. Kamilah is currently works at Salomon in Annecy, France. It was fun to hear from Kamilah on how things have changed since last August and how they’ve navigated this exciting time as a family. They share that they are welcoming their first child later this year, which changes how they will navigate life moving forward.

Make sure to tune into all of Freetrail's coverage leading into the 2025 Western States. We'll have a live daily show at 3:30pm Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of race week before we set our sites on the official broadcast where Dylan will be commentating, and we’ll be providing photo and video coverage of the race for the Freetrail social channels. Make sure to follow along here and @runfreetrail on Instagram.

Make sure to play Freetrail's own fantasy trail running at https://fantasy.freetrail.com/events and pick 10-deep for Western States. Fantasy winners this week will receive a head to toe trail kit from HOKA as well as other sweet prizes from Freetrail and brand partners like Ketone IQ and Neversecond.

Our Western States coverage is brought to you by our good friends at HOKA. We're grateful for their generous support and belief in Freetrail.

Make sure to check out the latest and greatest from HOKA, the Mafate X. The Mafate X is all about innovation and pushing past limits. HOKA evolved their max-cushion trail experience to provide the confidence, control, and adaptability ultra runners require for their biggest trail efforts. Embracing the paradox of max cushion and stability on trail to develop a new experience for the longest adventures.

You can learn more and shop here: https://www.hoka.com/en/us/mafate/

Freetrail Links:

Website | https://freetrail.com/

Freetrail Pro | https://freetrail.com/pro/

Patreon | / dylanbowman

Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/runfreetrai...

YouTube | / @freetrail

Freetrail Experts | https://freetrail.com/experts/

Dylan Links:

Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/dylanbo/?hl=en

Twitter | https://twitter.com/dylanbo?lang=en

LinkedIn | / dylan-bowman-06174380