In Zurich, she conquered one of the toughest marathon courses and tonight Christelle Daunay wants to secure her place back at the European Athletics Championships - this time on the track.
Daunay will run in the French 10,000m championships in Paris this evening, determined to land the qualifying mark of 32:45.00 for Amsterdam.
With a personal best - and national record - of 31:35.81 from the European Cup 10,000m in Bilbao 2012, the time she needs should be within her capabilities if all goes to plan, though she has not run the distance competitively since the 2013 world championships in Moscow where she was 10th (32:04.44).
Daunay, now 41, remains one of France’s leading athletes and she is also looking towards the marathon at the Olympic Games in Rio.
She has stayed on the roads this winter and is Europe’s leading half-marathoner (69:55) from finishing third in Paris last month, even though it was a performance she was slightly disappointed with.
Daunay, speaking to athle.fr, said: “I got a little tired in the race. We then arranged training for me to feel better and my form has raised.”
With an aim of running “the level of performance for the Amsterdam European Championships,” she will face seven other women at the Stade Charléty, with Aurore Guerin, 26, posing the biggest threat.
But as Daunay said: 'If I am alone, I must try to keep the pace. It will not be simple. I am taking this competition without pressure. If it happens, great. If it does not, I will focus immediately on the Olympic marathon.'
And, who can forget her brilliant run over the 26.2-miles of the looped course, with its steep climbs, in Zurich 2014, when she broke the European Championship record to win by 13 seconds in 2:25:14.
No doubt Daunay will be hoping Amsterdam might be just as memorable.
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