Last year’s second-place finisher, Andreas Reiterer (Italy), is back at the 2026 Transvulcania Ultramarathon hoping to take aim at the top spot on the podium. In the following interview, he talks about his winter and spring of training, earning a Golden Ticket for the Western States 100 at the Chianti Ultra Trail 120k in March and why he declined it, and his thoughts on the Transvulcania course.
For more on who’s racing, check out our in-depth preview and follow our live coverage here on the website and on Twitter/X on Saturday.
[Editor’s Note: If you are unable to see the video above, click here to watch it.]
Andreas Reiterer Pre-Transvulcania Ultramarathon Interview Transcript
iRunFar: Meghan Hicks of iRunFar. I’m with Andreas Reiterer. It’s a couple of days before the 2026 Transvulcania Ultramarathon. Good morning, Andreas. How are you?
Andreas Reiterer: Good morning. Yes, I’m fine. I arrived here on the island yesterday, and in two days we can go.
iRunFar: This is becoming a familiar place for you. This is your third time back to the island. What brings you back to race a third time?
Reiterer: It’s a race I like a lot. The island is very beautiful. It fits very well at this time of year, this race, so I decided to come back.
iRunFar: You finished in 2023, you were the first step of the podium in third place. In 2025, you were second. So you’ve occupied all but one step on the podium. Are you back for something just a little bit more?
Reiterer: Yes, the big goal would be this, but you can never say.
iRunFar: It’s true.
Reiterer: The level of the athletes is always very high here, especially this year. But I’m feeling good, and we will see.
iRunFar: Last year was exceptionally poor conditions for part of the race. There was cold wind and some rain. But you and men’s champion Peter Fraňo looked unbothered by how bad the weather was. Can you recap for us what that race was like for you?
Reiterer: Last year, the race is always hard, but with the weather conditions, it was a little bit harder. On the top, it was really windy and freezing. I didn’t have gloves, so it was very cold, but I managed to pace the race well, so I had a good day.
iRunFar: It’s unexpected to come to the subtropical island of La Palma and be in a storm, needing gloves and a little winter kit.
Reiterer: Normally at my home, I like when it’s cold and we have snow. You think you come here and there is sun and 30 degrees. But last year was totally different. Maybe for me it was also good.
iRunFar: Last time iRunFar saw you was in the fall at the Trail World Championships Long Trail. After that you had your winter training at home, and then you raced the Chianti UltraTrail 120k. That was about a month ago now?
Reiterer: Yeah.
iRunFar: Talk a little bit about your winter training.
Reiterer: After the World Championships, I was very tired. It was the end of the season, so I did a little break. Then in November, I raced Puglia. And after Puglia, I did a longer break. From January on, I started with really good winter training, like every year, skiing and running. Everything went quite good. Then I wanted to race Tenerife Blue Trail.
iRunFar: Another island here in the Canaries.
Reiterer: And Tenerife was canceled, so I had to change races. I went to Chianti. I’m really happy with that race because it’s a fast race. I trained more for the long uphill, but it went good.
iRunFar: You finished on the podium there. Interestingly, you were briefly awarded a Western States 100 Golden Ticket, which you considered but ultimately decided not to take, because?
Reiterer: Because in June, we’re expecting our second baby. My plan was always to go to Western States, but if the family plans are others, that’s more important.
iRunFar: I think you said off-camera that your second child’s due date is actually on Western States race day.
Reiterer: Yes, June 26.
iRunFar: Probably not so smart to go to America that day.
Reiterer: I think my wife would kill me.
iRunFar: We love you. We want you to be happy!
Reiterer: But I never thought to go there. Family first. Maybe I have another chance next year.
iRunFar: If there had been a parental deferral, if you could have taken a year’s deferral on the Golden Ticket, would you have accepted it and tried to do that for 2028?
Reiterer: Yeah, would it be possible?
iRunFar: I mean, I don’t think that policy exists, but there’s a movement toward creating policies like those so that parents can adjust their racing around births and life events.
Reiterer: Yeah. That would be great.
iRunFar: That would be great. But instead, you’ll have to do another Golden Ticket race or get lucky in the lottery.
Reiterer: Maybe next year. I saw also Chianti is a Golden Ticket race next year.
iRunFar: Back again.
Reiterer: Back again.
iRunFar: Do the runnable spring race in Italy.
Reiterer: Yeah, yeah.
iRunFar: Turning our sights back to this race and to Saturday, the men’s field to me is quite interesting this year. It’s deeper than the last couple of years. And we were talking off camera about how there are runners who excel in the ultra distance, but also some runners who are quite fast at shorter distances or Skyrunning and are stepping up to this 75k distance.
Reiterer: Yeah, this year we have a lot of strong runners here. And also runners like my teammate Nadir [Maguet], who are stepping up the distance. We are curious to see what they can do.
iRunFar: This course is one of the more unique courses in ultrarunning. There are very few places where you can have 2,500 meters of descent nonstop, and this is at the finish of the race, so you have to be so strong to take on that descent late.
Reiterer: Yeah.
iRunFar: In your training, have you adapted to that, or maybe your race-day psychology? What are your thoughts on the uniqueness of this course?
Reiterer: Yeah, you have to train the downhill a bit. I try to run long downhills, more than 1,000 meters. It’s possible at my home because I live high up and I can run down a lot. I try to do this a bit more because, the legs. If you are not prepared for this downhill, it will be difficult. The downhill begins after 50k.
iRunFar: Yeah. Right at the 50k point, right?
Reiterer: Yeah, 52. You are already tired. Everyone is tired. And if you have a little freshness in the legs, you can make a difference.
iRunFar: Well, hopefully that freshness in your legs makes a difference on Saturday.
Reiterer: We hope. [laughs]
iRunFar: Best of luck to you in the 2026 Transvulcania.
Reiterer: Thank you. See you.
