Article by Cosmin Nistor – Published Monday, November 10, 2025, 6:07 p.m. / Updated Monday, November 10, 2025, 6:10 p.m.
A 27-year-old athlete from Alsace died on Sunday, November 9, just 100 meters from the finish line of the Nice-Cannes Marathon, one of France's most popular running competitions.
The young man suffered a cardio-respiratory arrest right on the last part of the race, after he had almost completed the 42 kilometers.
Despite the quick intervention of the emergency teams and the resuscitation maneuvers carried out on the spot, the athlete could no longer be saved.
Race director: “He was a regular marathon-ready athlete”
Race director Pascal Thiriot confirmed the tragedy in a statement to the French press:
“He was an athlete, a regular runner. He had been training for a year for the marathon, he was ready.”
The event is not without precedent. About ten years ago, another participant died during the relay event.
The mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard, sent his “sincere condolences to the family and loved ones” of the victim on Facebook.
A doctor confirms: “Even trained athletes can hide hard-to-detect heart conditions”
Although the exact cause of death has not yet been made public, sports doctor Dr. Olivier Wolff, from the Institute of Sports Medicine in Alsace, explained to France Info that such cases, although rare, can have invisible causes even after medical checks.
The most common cause of death in such situations is cardiac in nature. Intense exercise affects hydration, mineral levels and cellular metabolism. Heart rhythm disturbances may occur during exercise, which are not visible at rest. Sometimes they can be detected on an EKG, but not always.
– the doctor explained
The new regulation no longer requires a medical certificate
From 2024, marathon participants in France no longer have to present a medical certificate, a sports license or completion of an online medical prevention program being sufficient.
“Long-term and high-intensity exercise is never without risks. A cardiological consultation would still be recommended, to detect possible problems. But medicine cannot prevent everything.
You can be perfectly prepared and monitored, and on the day of the race, a hidden anomaly can appear suddenly, sometimes with fatal consequences”, the doctor also said, according to the quoted source.
