Dr Garrivier

Dr. Garrivier

Explore the human behind the Athlete with HOKA and France International Thibaut Garrivier.

Thibaut Garrivier’s remarkable rise has established him comfortably amongst the top Ultra-Trail Running athletes in the world, achieving notable victories at the Transvulcania in 2019 and UTMB Mont-Blanc CCC in 2021. If that wasn’t enough, Thibaut is also a fully qualified Doctor of Medicine. Born in Valognes, Normandy, Thibaut has always been an adventurer, taking his older sister Chloé on explorations of his garden from the moment he could walk, “He didn’t like to keep still!” claims his father, Alain, “He’d always wander around, discovering new activities, new playgrounds”. Thibaut’s discovery of running however wouldn’t come until much later in his life, in-fact, he has the strain of Medical School to thank for finding what would soon become his true passion. Thibaut found running to be a way of burning off the pent-up energy accumulated from all of his studying. Little did he know where that would lead.

Putting his life on hold for 10 years to become a doctor didn’t stop Thibaut from progressing his running, regularly competing in trail events alongside HOKA athletes like Audrey Tanguy and Julien Chorier, both of whom are now close friends. Striking the balance was hard at first, Thibaut would take to the trails to train after being on-call for 24 hours, but the balance has now been struck, giving him more to focus and recover, which has taken his trail-running to the next level. After winning the UTMB Mont-Blanc CCC in 2021, Thibaut took on the legendary 100-mile UTMB race for the first time the following year. Even for the pros this is a gruelling race, where the mental challenge is as tough as the physical. “It really is a mental sport when I think about it!” Thibaut jokes as he prepares to set off on a practice run of the final 60km of the UTMB course (at 3am) predicting traffic jams along the route of other trail-runners. “The UTMB is for super humans!” gleans his mother, Maryvonne. We agree.

BACK