Adèle’s dream

24 September 2026Photos and text: Anne Soullez20 images

01 / 20 · 24 September 2026Anne Soullez / Collectif DR

At 21, Adèle runs for Amiens UC, coached by Pascal Machat. Specializing in the 800 m and 1,500 m, she established herself within a single season as one of the most promising middle-distance runners in the country: French elite 1,500 m champion in 2025, European U23 runner-up over the same distance in Bergen. Between 2024 and 2025, she lowered her personal best by ten seconds, from 4:13 to 4:03. At the same time, she is pursuing studies in social sciences, refusing to sacrifice everything to the track. She is building a life on several levels. Not out of a lack of ambition: out of intelligence.

Middle-distance running is a sport where everything is decided in a few minutes. An injury, a disqualification, a bad day, and an entire season collapses. Adèle Gay knows this better than anyone: this winter, she suffered both within a few weeks. A disqualification in the final of the French championships, just after she had set a record. An injury right after, which kept her out of a meet in Normandy where she was due to run.

It is precisely because she understands this fragility that she has built her life differently. “Sport is very uncertain. If you don’t want to have regrets, you also have to do everything you can to succeed.” But “doing everything you can” does not mean “sacrificing everything.” That is where Adèle Gay’s singularity begins.

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