Fabiola Conti of Italy placed third at the 2025 Trail World Championships Long Trail after running in that position for most of the race. In the following interview, our first with her, Fabiola talks about switching from road running to trail running, her work in the Italian military, how she approached this race’s 82-kilometer distance, and how she took it out too fast but dealt with late-race fatigue and cramps to hold onto third position.
For more on how the race played out, read our in-depth 2025 Trail World Championships Long Trail results article.
[Editor’s Note: If you are unable to see the video above, click here to access it.]
Fabiola Conti Post-2025 Trail World Championships Long Trail Interview Transcript
iRunFar: Meghan Hicks of iRunFar. I’m with Fabiola Conti.
Fabiola Conti: Hi.
iRunFar: Hi. It’s the day after the 2025 Trail World Championships Long Trail. You’re the women’s third-place finisher.
Conti: Yes. I’m very excited for the race and for the position, because it’s my first World Championship on the long distance. I did the World Championship in Thailand and Innsbruck, but,
iRunFar: The short trail.
Conti: The short trail. So to arrive third, it’s a dream.
iRunFar: iRunFar is interviewing you for the first time tonight, so I’d love to know a little bit about your background and how you found running and then mountain ultra distance.
Conti: I did running since 15.
iRunFar: Age 15.
Conti: Age 15. But I did road running and cross-country running. I had a stop from university. I made the military academy, so I stopped running. And I ran after my pregnancy because I have a child, a girl that is five years old.
iRunFar: Okay.
Conti: Road running is a bit bored, so I started to run on the trail in the mountains because I live in Aosta. Before I lived in Vipiteno, that’s in the mountains also. My husband is an alpinist, and so I love mountains and the trail is beautiful.
iRunFar: Do you remember what year your first trail race was, when you said, okay, I’m bored with road running, now trail?
Conti: Yes, it was in 2017.
iRunFar: Okay.
Conti: My first trail was a Red Bull Vertical in Italy. Nine kilometers of distance and 3,000 meters of elevation gain.
iRunFar: 3,000 meters? Where did they hold that race?
Conti: From Susa to Monte Rosa. It’s a Red Bull race, so it’s a bit crazy.
iRunFar: Incredible. Wow.
Conti: It was very tough, and I am impressed by the mountain, the trail, and so I decided to running on trail in the mountains, because the landscape was beautiful and road runners, no. The streets, no.
iRunFar: You picked a pretty extreme race for your first trail race.
Conti: Yes. [laughs]
iRunFar: I think maybe you have some toughness to you, just naturally.
Conti: Yes. Before, I didn’t use the poles and it was very, very difficult to arrive at the summit of Rocciamelone, the mountain. In fact, I arrived, I think, 30th in the female category, so it’s not very better, but it was my first race, so.
iRunFar: And you must have been hooked. You must have said, “Okay, I want to do lots of this.”
Conti: Yeah, because the fatigue was wonderful, I think. [laughs] In fact, the long trails are similar in that some situation because the cramps and the tough parts in some pieces of the race are very difficult.
iRunFar: You are a member of the Italian military, is that right?
Conti: Yeah.
iRunFar: And you’ve done that for all of your adult life?
Conti: I don’t know, because it’s difficult to be a mother and an athlete and an officer in the military army. And so I must decide if I continue the career or to leave the military army. But I don’t know already, what is my street.
iRunFar: We’ll see. But you have maybe, it’s about 10 years you’ve been a part of the Italian military?
Conti: I started when I was 15 years old.
iRunFar: Okay.
Conti: Because I made a sort of military school with the last three years of graduatory school. After that, the academy in Modena. And then I became an officer, a sub-Lieutenant. And now Lieutenant.
iRunFar: Okay.
Conti: It’s not the same as in Great Britain. The grade before Captain.
iRunFar: I see. To talk about yesterday’s race, going into that race, you’ve done shorter distances and longer distances. How did you approach yesterday’s race mentally?
Conti: Yesterday, I approached it like a half-marathon distance.
iRunFar: Did you?
Conti: Yes. I started faster than I should have. In fact, in the final 16 kilometers after the second refreshment, I had cramps all over the legs, but with the cheering of my teammates along the path, the head don’t fall, and so I just arrived in third position. But yes, I started a bit fast. In fact, my first kilometer was in 3:30, and it’s very fast for me.
iRunFar: So in fairness, it was on the road and a little downhill.
Conti: Yeah, yeah. It helped to go faster. [laughs]
iRunFar: That’s funny. A 3:30 kilometer to start. Okay.
Conti: Yes. And the path was very tough and technical at the summit of the mountain. But it’s similar to the mountains in Aosta in the Alps. So I’m a bit facilitated for this, because I did two long races in Valle d’Aosta, the Tot Dret and the Monte Rosa, Gressoney, Walserwaeg. 82 kilometers is in the middle from a half marathon and the long, long trail, like the Tot Dret or the Monte Rosa.
iRunFar: Okay, so it’s a middle distance.
Conti: Yeah, a middle distance. It’s a middle distance, very fast, because the World Championship is very high.
iRunFar: A super fast middle distance.
Conti: Yeah.
iRunFar: Talk to me a little bit about the competition. I think for maybe 40 kilometers, you were about in third, and then you found second place around halfway.
Conti: Yeah.
iRunFar: What happened there?
Conti: Because I saw Sunmaya [Budha] before me, and I think to take care. So we made 40 kilometers together. It was very beautiful because there was another person to run with. So the contrast, the race was difficult, and the last kilometers I had cramps and she go away. But I think she’s a very good athlete in the long distance, because I know she did very, very long distances in Japan and Nepal. And I’m proud to finish third and to be on the podium with Katie Schide and Sunmaya.
iRunFar: Yeah. So during that time that you and Sunmaya were together, you were working together as opposed to battling?
Conti: Yeah, yeah. We worked together on the downhills and the uphills. She preceded me, and so we were together.
iRunFar: That’s very cool. Even though it’s a World Championships and you’re competing for position, sometimes you are better working together.
Conti: Yeah, yeah. It’s better, I think, always.
iRunFar: Team Italy as a team had a good day yesterday as well.
Conti: Yeah, yeah.
iRunFar: You podiumed as an individual and then podiumed as a team.
Conti: Yeah. We have a gold and podium on the team.
iRunFar: How was that team dynamic during the race yesterday? Were you getting reports on how the other women behind you were doing? How Team Italy was faring?
Conti: Yeah. Yesterday, my teammates, the manager, were along the path, excited to go faster, to take the golden medal of the team. In fact, my teammates in the race was very beautiful because Giuditta Turini went from 50th position to ninth position in the last kilometer, so it was beautiful. So Martina [Valmassoi] and the other Italian females, we were going very fast.
iRunFar: You must be very proud of that group collectively.
Conti: Yeah. And the cheering of the team, all the Italian team was beautiful along all the parts, and with our friends also who came from Italy here to Canfranc with 12 hours, 11 hours of machine. So it was very beautiful.
iRunFar: Fabiola Conti, congratulations on your third-place finish.
Conti: Thank you.
iRunFar: I know the closing ceremonies are about to happen, so you get to finally celebrate with your team.
Conti: I don’t know how, but something we’ll celebrate this evening and tomorrow when we return to Italy.
iRunFar: Congratulations.
Conti: Thank you very much.
