Francois dhaene bio pictures

In recent memory, he engaged in a gripping head-to-head with, and ultimately finished in second place to, Kilian Jornet at the Hardrock This followed his win the previous year , during which he set a then course record, and a win at the UTMB — his fourth victory at the race revered by many as the pinnacle of ultra-trail racing — a win count equalled only by Jornet.

He also has multiple victories to his name at the Madeira Island Ultra Trail , Diagonale des Fous , and countless more of the highest profile trail ultras the world over. And this is why ultrarunning fans have missed his presence from start lines this past while, as a series of injuries took him out of racing for more than a year after the Hardrock We caught up with him to learn about his return from injury, and to get an insight into his day-to-day life as he prepares for the season ahead.

While his initial recovery from Hardrock was fine, and he managed another training race with only mild pain, in late September when he began to ramp up training for the Diagonale des Fous , the problem became impossible to ignore. He sought help, and the diagnosis was a large bone edema on the calcaneus — a fluid build-up on the large bone of the heel — which expanded and developed into a fracture.

Photo: Alexis Berg. Upon returning from a training run one day, he suffered a severe collapse of his right ankle, and was taken immediately for x-ray, which showed a triple fracture of the malleolus — the ankle bone — and required immediate surgery, and a roughly six-month recovery period. He recalled that he arrived on crutches, and left two weeks later able to resume cycling and get his foot into a ski boot.

The ski race Pierra Menta , I live meters from the start line. I am happy to be able to train around my house.

Trail runner, mountain and nature lover.

As he gained some strength, he returned to CERS Capbreton for a second, more intense, block of rehabilitation — with a focus on building toward a safe return to running. His first running steps were taken with the aid of an anti-gravity running machine, which allowed him to practice the running motion, but removed much of the weight and impact.

Through patience and perseverance, by early summer in , he was able to run up to 12 kilometers on the flat, and made the first tentative steps in the mountains to return to trail running. But another setback was in store. A pain presented itself in his lower back, which an MRI revealed to be two new stress fractures in the sacrum — a bony structure in the lower back adjoining the pelvis.