With two podium finishes at the 2023 and 2022 Trail World Championships Long Trail, Italy’s Andreas Reiterer arrives at the 2025 race ready to let the pressure sit on the shoulders of others. In the following interview, Andreas talks about how he likes the technical and slower nature of this year’s course, running like a beginner at CCC just a few weeks ago and how he hopes not to make the same mistakes again, and what he thinks about the strength of Team Italy this year.
For more on who’s racing, check out our in-depth men’s and women’s previews and follow our live race coverage on Saturday.
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Andreas Reiterer Pre-2025 Trail World Championships Long Trail Interview Transcript
iRunFar: Eszter Horanyi with iRunFar here with Andreas Reiterer. We’re at the 2025 Trail World Championships. How is Spain treating you?
Andreas Reiterer: Yeah. Hi. Yeah, I’m feeling good. Now we are here since one day, and everything is ready for the race.
iRunFar: So you’ve only been here one day. Have you been out to recce the course at all, or are you just here?
Reiterer: Yeah, I was here at the beginning of July.
iRunFar: Okay.
Reiterer: Together with two teammates, and we saw the whole course. Then we decided to come here, short before the race so we could stay at home easy, and it’s, everything is perfect.
iRunFar: Perfect. You’re ready to go.
Reiterer: I’m ready and feeling good. Yeah. Then we will see.
iRunFar: You’ve had a lot of success at the World Champs before. You were second in 2023 and third in 2022. Are those your aspirations again this year, podium maybe?
Reiterer: Yeah. I have the last two World Championships, I had two medals, and everyone says that now the gold medal is the only thing what’s waiting you, but it’s very difficult this year, because at the World Championships, there are always strong runners, and this year the level is much higher than the other two World Championships. And we will see. Anything can happen. The course suits me well, and then yeah.
iRunFar: Why do you think the level is so much higher?
Reiterer: This year, a lot of people who normally run the Short Trail stepped up to the Long Trail, and other people like Jim Walmsley came there. We have I think more than 15 people above 900 ITRA points. It’s a strong field. But it’s good for a World Championship if the strongest runners are there.
iRunFar: Is that intimidating to you, or is that motivating? How does it feel to know that you’re lining up against such a competitive field?
Reiterer: I think it’s motivating, and it’s not so, I don’t have so much pressure because I think other runners on the card are stronger than me.
iRunFar: You can point at all them, and be like, yeah.
Reiterer: The pressure are on them, so I can go easy.
iRunFar: Go easy. [makes air quotes]
Reiterer: Yeah. In my mind.
iRunFar: Yeah. So just three and a half weeks ago, about four weeks before race day, you raced CCC.
Reiterer: Yeah.
iRunFar: How was that?
Reiterer: At CCC, I was not so happy about my performance because I did a few mistakes. I didn’t run intelligent. I ran like a beginner. And yeah. The result wasn’t so bad, but I know I can do much more better. And now I will try to avoid these mistakes here in this race. Hopefully, my head changed a bit.
iRunFar: Was it just over excitement at CCC?
Reiterer: Yeah, I think it was over excitement, and then I was in fifth position at Champex-Lac, and I was feeling good, and then I pushed too much because I wanted to go on the podium, and it’s better to go steady, and don’t, because the race is long.
iRunFar: So this is a little bit shorter of a race, so are you going to try to push harder, or do you have a strategy?
Reiterer: Strategy. We have always a strategy, but sometimes it change during the race. I will try to stay calm, and then we will see.
iRunFar: So you’ve been out to see the course. How did seeing the course inform your training? Because word is it’s technical, it’s pretty slow.
Reiterer: Yes, it’s a slow course. And after the course recon, I tried to run more in technical terrain, more hiking, and using more the poles, and yeah. Hopefully it helped me to go strong here.
iRunFar: Is there another course that you’ve raced on that’s similar to it?
Reiterer: Yeah, I did a few races at my home because it’s similar.
iRunFar: Okay.
Reiterer: Because I live in the mountains and we have a lot of technical terrain, and maybe it’s good for me.
iRunFar: So you’re looking forward to the more technical part?
Reiterer: Yeah, I’m looking forward. Yeah, yeah.
iRunFar: And you’re part of Team Italy, which has historically done quite well at World Championships. On paper, you’ve got an incredibly strong team. How does that feel, being part of such a strong Team Italy?
Reiterer: Team Italy is always a very strong and competitive team, and I’m proud to be part of the team, especially this year with Francesco [Puppi] and Cristian Minoggio. And also the other two runners are strong, and we have a good, everyone. We are good friends, and no one is how do you say, we are not running against, we run together.
iRunFar: So for you guys, it does feel like you’re running as a team?
Reiterer: Yeah, because for Italy, it’s important the individual result, but it’s more important to the team result.
iRunFar: Is that going to change how you race?
Reiterer: Yeah, it changes because if you have a bad day, and then you have to think for the team, you have to go on and on, because if the other two have a good day and you the third has a bad day and you stop the race, you can’t stop the race because you have to run for the team.
iRunFar: You have people counting on you.
Reiterer: Yeah.
iRunFar: Well, I hope you have an absolutely fantastic day out there.
Reiterer: Yeah. I hope so, too.
iRunFar: We wish you the best of luck.
Reiterer: Thank you.
iRunFar: And we’ll see you out there.
