France’s Blandine L’Hirondel took the 2026 Transvulcania Ultramarathon victory with a new course record. In this interview, Blandine talks about sticking to her race plan, looking behind her near the race high point to take in the scenery only to see second-place Lucy Bartholomew closing in on her, taking risks on the descent in order to open up the race-winning gap, and her plans for the rest of the summer.
For more on how the race played out, read our in-depth 2026 Transvulcania Ultramarathon results article.
[Editor’s Note: If you are unable to see the video above, click here to access it.]
Blandine L’Hirondel Post-2026 Transvulcania Ultramarathon Interview Transcript
iRunFar: Eszter Horanyi with iRunFar. I’m here with Blandine L’Hirondel. It is a day after the 2026 Transvulcania Ultramarathon, in which you ran away with the win and a new course record. Congratulations.
Blandine L’Hirondel: Thank you.
iRunFar: How are you?
L’Hirondel: Well, I feel good. I didn’t sleep a lot this night. I’m very, very happy and proud of me, and I’m beginning to realize what I did yesterday. I felt a little bit in my legs, but it’s ok. It hit the plate.
iRunFar: Were you expecting to run this fast? Because your first time at this race, your first time on this course. Did you have a sense that you could?
L’Hirondel: No, I didn’t feel I could do that. When I began the race yesterday, I felt I would do something like between 8 hours and 5 minutes or 8 hours and 10 minutes, but 7 hours and 43 … It was incredible. If you told me that two days ago, I would never trust you.
iRunFar: “You’re delusional,” right? No, but yes.
L’Hirondel: Yes, yes. But what was the most surprising for me was that I was quite good, and I saw in my…
iRunFar: Watch?
L’Hirondel: And I saw in my watch I was behind on the record the time. I said, Ok, I’m good. And I didn’t see anybody behind me. So for me, it was impossible, like other people being under the record.
iRunFar: Yeah.
L’Hirondel: When I saw Lucy [Bartholomew], I said, Ok, so now it’s finished to play, and now I need to enter into the competition mode.
iRunFar: Was there ever a sense that you were taking out too fast when you were looking at your watch being … You’re under record pace? Was there a fear that you were going to blow up?
L’Hirondel: Well, no, because my sensation and my feeling were good. It will be exact if I seem very tired in El Pilar, for example. But, no, I was good, so I think, Ok, maybe I am on a big day. For me, it’s a big day, and I have a very good sensation. But I’m … Ok, normally I refer with the time, but the most important for me is the sensation and the feeling, and if my feeling are good, Ok, so I can continue.
iRunFar: So you and Lucy, who placed second, had quite a battle out there. The first 8k, you two were pretty close to each other coming through Los Canarios. Then, for the rest of that first climb, you put in almost a four-minute gap on her. Was that your plan to push pretty hard on that first climb to try to open a gap?
L’Hirondel: No, no. For me, I don’t have the sensation to push up during the first climb. For me, it was to continue. It wasn’t a plan. I didn’t have a strategy compared to other girls. It was just focused on my sensation and did my race as I feel it.
iRunFar: Yeah.
L’Hirondel: Well, at the end of the race, as I said, I need to enter with a competition mode, and I have a strategy. But before that, no strategy.
iRunFar: So going up to the high point at Roque de los Muchachos, Lucy actually clawed back that gap and caught you. When did you know she was coming? When did you first see her?
L’Hirondel: A little bit after Pico de la Cruz and before Roque de los Muchachos. As I said to you, I was on my good day traveling and enjoying the landscape, and I feel like … Well, I’m on a very good day. I’m strong today because I am under time record and just to see the landscape. I return and I saw Lucy and now, Oh no. I was so good in my race now, I need to do the competition, and it’s a little difficult. I tried to be faster on the uphill and the flat, but she was very, very strong. So she grew up me. No…
iRunFar: She passed you?
L’Hirondel: She passed me a little before Roque de los Muchachos. And after Roque de los Muchachos, some flat, some uphill. During three, four kilometers after Roque, she was behind me, and I can pass her on the downhill.
iRunFar: Were you ever afraid that you wouldn’t be able to get past her on the downhill? When you were at the top and she passed you, did you think that you’d be able to pass her back?
L’Hirondel: Yes. It was an option. So that’s why I told me, Ok, Blandine, you have just one solution. It’s to … “There is an expression in French, but to put the brain outside your head and be very fast and crazy and to take some risk on the downhill. So it was the only thing I was thinking about during the downhill, Be as fast as you can. And you will see in Tazacorte, you will see … Or the team, the difference. But, yes, I always felt she could pass me, but I feel good … Even though I feel like I have a lot of time, I feel good on the downhill. I had a good sensation. I was good on the technical. My legs were good, pretty good at this moment. So when I was doing the downhill, nothing was certain, but I knew that I was doing a good downhill.
iRunFar: You put almost seven minutes into Lucy on that very long 15k, 17k descent. Did you realize the gap was that big?
L’Hirondel: Well, yes, I didn’t have … I felt it was just four or five minutes. But, yeah, seven minutes, it’s a lot. So, yes, I think I did a good downhill.
iRunFar: Then on the final climb up to the finish, were you running scared? Were you afraid that Lucy was going to be able to make up that gap?
L’Hirondel: Always, because it was flat and after uphill, and I saw she was very strong. So in the middle of the downhill, some people were showing me, and I asked them, “Can you see on the Livetrail if you know the difference in Tazacorte?” and they told me it was four or five minutes. But I don’t know if it was seven.
iRunFar: My math may be wrong.
L’Hirondel: No, maybe the people.
iRunFar: Yeah.
L’Hirondel: But at this moment I told me, It’s ok. You can relax and realize as maybe you will win.
iRunFar: Yeah. When was the moment when you thought, “Ok, I’ve got this”? She’s not going to catch me?
L’Hirondel: Maybe on the street, the long, long one kilometer. It was interminable for me because I don’t like running on the flat. So at the moment I couldn’t more. I see her behind me. Because I didn’t see Lucy once, I would like to stop and walk. But, no, I continue to run.
iRunFar: When you have thousands of people cheering you on that straightaway, you can’t walk, right?
L’Hirondel: Yes, exactly.
iRunFar: Well, congratulations on that. But what’s on tap for the rest of the summer?
L’Hirondel: Well, I will do the UTMB in August, and I will focus on this race.
iRunFar: Yeah. Do you have anything between now and then?
L’Hirondel: Well, in three weeks, normally I have the MaXi-Race in Annecy, France, just 60k. But it’s in three weeks. I will see how I recover from this race and, in training, do the last long run before the UTMB to finalize the adjustments. But, no, the real objective now is UTMB.
iRunFar: Ok. Congratulations on your win at the 2026 Transvulcania Ultramarathon. We look forward to seeing you again later this summer.
L’Hirondel: Thank you.
