Switzerland’s Rémi Bonnet comes to the 2026 Zegama-Aizkorri Marathon as one of the past champions. In the following interview, Rémi talks about returning to a race he views as one of the more important ones each year, his 2025 season which had highs and lows with great race performances and injury, and what he thinks about the wet and muddy conditions on Sunday.
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Rémi Bonnet Pre-2026 Zegama Marathon Interview Transcript
iRunFar: Meghan Hicks of iRunFar. I’m with Rémi Bonnet. It’s a couple of days before the 2026 Zegama Marathon. How are you?
Rémi Bonnet: I’m fine. I just flew from Switzerland this morning, so happy to be here again. I have good memories from here, and it’s one of the races that really counts in the calendar. So I am happy to be here and in shape, so we’ll see.
iRunFar: Not only does the Zegama Marathon count on the calendar, this is a special year. It’s the 25th anniversary. They’ve called all the prior champions back, and then so many athletes are also here to compete. So it’s doubly special this year.
Bonnet: Yeah. That’s a crazy, crazy field this year, and that motivates me to try to do a good race and to try to follow Kilian [Jornet], Elhousine [Elazzaoui], Manuel [Merillas]. There are a lot of good, really strong athletes here. So it’ll be exciting to watch, I think.
iRunFar: You had a great season in 2025. I think your greatest successes came in uphill-oriented type stuff. You set world record in the vertical kilometer, and you won the world championships in the uphill discipline. I suppose you’re happy with 2025?
Bonnet: Yeah, it was a mixed feeling because I had an injury at the beginning of the season, so I had to skip all the big races. So Zegama, Mont Blanc Marathon, Sierre-Zinal. So all the races that make me dream. So the second part of the season was really good. So it’s a bit of mixed feeling, but at the end, I think I learned a lot from this injury, and now I am better than before. So I think it was a good thing for the training.
iRunFar: Then what was the injury last year?
Bonnet: I had a stress fracture on the tibia, so it was a mixed feeling.
iRunFar: It’s a little bit hard to make it through a full season with no injury, no problems.
Bonnet: Yeah. Touch wood for eight years without any injuries.
iRunFar: Oh, wow.
Bonnet: I think I am lucky to be able to practice two sports at a high level without taking rest in between. So at some point, you have to rest, and so now I learned to rest a bit more than before.
iRunFar: It’s interesting because in the sport of trail running, there are a lot of people like you who do ski mountaineering in the winter. Many do it recreationally to get their cardio in, but you’re a true dual-sport athlete that you compete in the World Cup, you go to a lot of races, you treat it as professionally as trail running, yeah?
Bonnet: Yeah. It’s one of my main sports as trail running, but it’s a lot of travel, a lot of hours in the car, in the plane, and racing. It’s maybe 20 races per winter. So it’s a lot, and so you never stop training, and you never stop racing, but I like it. So I need this to be happy, I think.
iRunFar: So to talk a little bit about Zegama, you’ve been here several times. I think you’ve seen Zegama in all of its forms: hot, cold, muddy.
Bonnet: Yeah.
iRunFar: I think we’re in for quite a treat in terms of the water and the mud and maybe still some snow up high on the weekend. What are you thinking about this year’s situation?
Bonnet: It’s a real Zegama. For me, Zegama is with the mud and with a bit of fog. So when I won in 2018, it was exactly the same: a lot of rain in the days before the race, and during the day was quite a good day without too much rain, but the terrain was really muddy, and so I think I like it. It makes the race harder physically, and so I think it’s good for me, and it will be nice to watch with all the mud.
iRunFar: Nice to watch.
Bonnet: A lot of falling, I think.
iRunFar: There’ll be a lot of falling, and you all will be very muddy at the finish.
Bonnet: Yes.
iRunFar: Show lots of ambiance.
Bonnet: Yeah.
iRunFar: This is a course that really benefits people who know it, who’ve run it before, who know the intricacies. You’ve done it so much. When you’re thinking about this course, what are you thinking about in terms of, “Oh, I have to be careful in this section. Oh, I know things will go well for me here.”
Bonnet: There is a bit of everything in that race. There is fast trails at some point, there is technical ridge. So you have to be strong at everything to win the race. You have to pay attention to not fall in the technical, and to be able, I think, to run faster when it’s flat and dirt road. So it’s a bit of everything, and it’s what makes Zegama special is that the guy who won Zegama is the best of the world.
iRunFar: Well, best of luck on your hunt for your second victory at Zegama.
Bonnet: Thank you.
