Olympic medallist and two-time world champion Vincent Luis is hoping for ‘one more good season’ before he calls time on his impressive professional career.
The Frenchman, who was part of the 2020 Mixed Relay team that took bronze in Tokyo, believes his body is telling him that the time to retire is edging ever closer and confirmed that thoughts have already turned to what comes next when he retires from competitive triathlon.
Luis has spent the majority of his 2025 campaign racing in the T100 Triathlon World Series, having decided to move away from the short-course WTCS format at the end of last season – securing top ten finishes in three of his four events.
A French sporting icon
Now aged 36 and very much regarded as a sporting icon in his home country, Luis accepts that injuries are starting to take their toll on his ability to both prepare and compete as he would like but says he is eager to give his career one last big hurrah.
The deliberations concerning his career form an enthralling part of the latest episode in the Dare to Dream 2 series, which was released this week on World Triathlon YouTube and TriathlonLive – and the video is embedded at the bottom of this story.
Charting his past year, the show gives a fascinating insight into the life of an athlete coming to terms with the fact that his career will soon be coming to an end.
Indeed, it was after conversations with the legendary Brownlee brothers that he realised the time to focus on ‘what’s next’ first came about, with Jonny saying he considered retiring after the Tokyo games, and Alistair explaining how injuries were wrecking his chances.
Taking advice from the Brownlee brothers
In the episode, he says: “I was talking with Alistair Brownlee last year in Dubai, and I said, ‘Oh, you just podiumed at the race? Are you going to continue or turn more into IRONMAN?’. He said, ‘I’m actually thinking about retiring.’
“And a couple of hours later, he announced it. He said to me, ‘I’m just picking up random injuries. I can’t train; I can’t be bothered’. And that’s a bit like what’s happening to me. And I think it’s like your body is telling you, ‘Well, that’s almost enough’.
“And the other thing is also when your phone rings with job offers, that’s also something else that tells you that maybe you should start to think about it. I just want one more good season with good races, and if at the end of 2026 I can retire and be content with what I’ve done, I think that’d be good.”
This year has been one of new horizons, Luis has taken in T100s in Singapore, San Francisco, and Spain, with Challenge Roth also thrown in for good measure – his first ever long-distance race, where he finished in an impressive fourth place.
Injuries end Paris Olympics dream
Hampered by injury and denied his dream of competing at his home Olympics in Paris, he took one of eight T100 Hot Shot contracts for the 2025 season in a bid to once again ‘feel the tape in his hands’, setting himself one final epic challenge before calling it a day.
Before his opening T100 race in Singapore last April, he says: “For this year, for the T100 series, I think my main goal is to try to play with the guys at the front.
“I really want to have a consistent series. Some people want to play a bit on two sides with the T100 series and the World Series, and some of them with the T100 and IRONMAN Pro Series.
“But I’m fully focused on the T100 series. I want to try to do my best. I’ve got two more years in me before I quit the world of triathlon, so. I want to make them count and definitely want to grab the tape again at some point this season.”
Sharing the ups and downs of triathlon life
The episode also highlights his relationship with fellow triathlete, Britain’s Georgia Taylor-Brown, as they live, train and compete at the same races in a relationship which, aside from their feelings for one another, also has its logistical advantages.
“Sharing my life with Georgia is making things a lot easier,” he says. “We share a lot of bike rides and swim sessions. We do try and do a lot together, but we don’t push it. If we do completely different things, then it is what it is, and we don’t try to overcomplicate things.”
The pair look as though they will have one more season on the road together, before Luis – a double World Champion and Super League legend – bows out after what he describes as a ‘rollercoaster’ career.
He has already joined forces with his agent and two others to open up a coffee shop in Paris, and who knows what offer the next phone call might produce?
A real ‘rollercoaster’ of a ride
“My first memory of wanting to be a triathlete is the 2004 Athens Olympics,” he says. “I remember watching the race; Hamish Carter won, Bevan Docherty was second, and Riederer was third.
“I remember the medal ceremony; they were on the podium, and they had the leaves crown on their heads, and for me, that was like, ‘wow, that’s what I want to do!’ I think that’s my first memory of me thinking, ‘I want to do Triathlon’, and even more, I wanted to do the Olympics.
“When I started to dream about triathlon, it was just far, far away. I never thought I would be a world champion or have an Olympic medal in one of the drawers at home. Like, it’s just… it was just too far away and too big to be done by just a normal guy like me.
“So, yeah, it was a good adventure. Bit of a rollercoaster…”
