In his debut 100-mile race, Francesco Puppi of Italy ran to an impressive second-place finish at the 2026 Western States 100. In the following interview, Francesco talks about his challenging build-up to the race, dealing with the physical and mental fallout from multiple injuries, and if 100-mile racing is everything he expected it to be.
For more on how the race played out, read our in-depth 2026 Western States 100 results article.
[Editor’s Note: If you are unable to see the video above, click here to watch it.]
Francesco Puppi Post-2026 Western States 100 Interview Transcript
iRunFar: This is Gabe Joyes with iRunFar, the day after the 2026 Western States 100 with our second-place finisher, Francesco Puppi. Francesco, congratulations, how was your first 100-mile experience? Was it everything you hoped and dreamed it would be?
Francesco Puppi: Maybe, or maybe even more. It was a lot, and I haven’t had time to process the day and all the emotions yet, but it was a lot of fun to share it with my crew and the people that came here for me, and it was really meaningful after a difficult lead up to this race. So, for now I’m just really proud of the day that I had.
iRunFar: Yeah, you had a lot of challenges leading up to race day. Can tell us a little bit about some of those ups and especially the downs?
Puppi: Sure. Yeah, the 2026 season started really well in Flagstaff, with a training camp with Jim Walmsley, we had a really good time in Flagstaff, and I was getting ready to race at Black Canyon [100k], and, unfortunately, I fell at mile 10 of the race, and I just dislocated my shoulder and I was forced to drop out. So, then I went back to Italy, I had a good race at the Chianti Marathon that I won with a course record, but right after that I was hiking in the mountains and I fell on the icy trails and I broke my right wrist, and it was a pretty serious fracture that required surgery. So, I had surgery, it was mid-April, right when I wanted to start my Western States preparation.
So, obviously not the ideal place to start putting in the work to prepare for this race. And the stress from the surgery, the lack of sleep, and all the uncertainty I think was not easy to handle, and for a long time I was not responding to training, training was not fun, things were not going the way that I wanted. But finally around mid-May I was starting to feel like myself and I was able to put together a good final month of my preparation, and show up on the start line healthy, and probably with an upward trajectory, which I think is important for 100-mile race because you need your body to be strong and also to be mentally ready to face the challenge and also handle the pain, because as I imagined, and as I discovered running the 100-mile race is a lot about handling pain.
iRunFar: This is true. I mean, you said for a while running and training wasn’t fun. When or where did you start to find the joy again? When did it start? What did it take to turn that around so that you could enjoy the experience?
Puppi: Well, when your body is not responding to training, it gives you a lot of uncertainty because you’re so used to rely on certain feelings and sensations when you run, like you know how an easy run should feel, or a workout should feel, or running at a certain intensity, and whenever you lose those sensations or those references, it’s like something is missing. It just leaves you with a lot of uncertainty, and you want to try to train and pretend that things are fine but they’re not fine because some external circumstances are affecting you. And then… I don’t know. I think I was maybe just patient enough to keep going and not give up, not take the easy shortcut. And at some point things started turning into my favor, and started feeling better again, and responding to workouts, and feeling more in control of my training and energy levels.
iRunFar: Very good. Okay. So, you get to the starting line in Olympic Valley, healthy, happy, ready for a big day, what was that first section of the high country like from a race experience?
Puppi: It was beautiful, first of all, the high country is beautiful. There’s no other way to put it.
iRunFar: Yeah.
Puppi: Also because it feels so remote compared to many other races, especially in Europe, that I’m used to that you always see something, some kind of civilization or some people, over there you’re just in the middle of nowhere, and it’s just you and the athletes around you, which is a pretty strong feeling and special feeling. And then the pace was really strong from the start, and I was running with Kilian [Jornet], Jim [Walmsley], and Vincent [Bouillard], and I even told them that to me it felt like we were running a 100k pace in a 100-mile race, so not ideal. I told them that we were going to get in trouble, but nobody was willing to slow down, and I was not willing to let them go.
So, I put myself in a very uncomfortable situation I guess, and I knew that at some point I would have started to struggle, I just didn’t really know where, but yeah at some point the pain became very, very intense.
iRunFar: I was on Red Star Ridge 15, 16 miles in and I was struck how quiet you all were, everyone was already working very hard, there was-
Puppi: Pretty hard.
iRunFar: … was no chit-chat, and everyone was just like flowing through these quiet woods, almost wildlife like, and I was really struck by that, where you all were putting in a shift very early, it didn’t look like 100-mile race. Throughout the day, you got to 50 miles and 100k, beyond 100k, longest run you’ve ever done, was that experience what you anticipated or what you envisioned, or was it just all pain and you’ve forgotten already?
Puppi: I just imagined that the section where I struggled would be shorter, but it was pretty long to be honest, like maybe 35 miles. It’s a pretty long way. But yeah, I didn’t slow down much so that’s good, and I’m happy with how I stayed in touch with those sensations and pain, and I just leaned into it, I tried to. And with different strategies, sometimes I was trying to focus on the pain, sometimes I was trying to take my mind away from it. I was trying not to think too much about how much was left, and just trying to focus on getting from one aid station to the other to feel like I was making progress. And eventually the miles go by and somehow you make it.
iRunFar: Yeah, this is true. You mentioned a couple traumatic falls, where you’re injured, I’ve had a couple of those myself, and I found that the mental part of recovering from those falls is challenging, particularly in rocky terrain or downhills where falls are likely. Did you have to overcome any internal demons with that on course?
Puppi: Yeah, there is a little bit of fear to fall again, and to maybe experience some serious consequences. In a way your confidence when you run on technical terrain is slower, it’s not where it used to be, which doesn’t necessarily make you safer. Because when you’re running through technical terrain, you want to be smooth, and yes, to pay attention and to be safe but also to move, I guess, very fluidly, and sometimes it takes me a while to get into that rhythm and cadence that, yes, I’m handling the terrain and not really… I mean, there’s always risk but it doesn’t really affect you.
iRunFar: Right. Well, now that you’ve experienced both the joy and relief of 100-mile finish line, has your mind started wandering to think about other 100-mile races yet or are you still just sitting on this and savoring?
Puppi: Yeah, it’s been not even 24 hours since the finish, so I’d like to imagine that it’s not my first and last 100-mile race, but if you ask me right now, I don’t know.
iRunFar: Totally fair.
Puppi: Yeah.
iRunFar: Do you have any aspirations for the rest of 2026, what your year is going to look like?
Puppi: I’m signed up to OCC at UTMB.
Puppi: But for now I really want to take a break, and some recovery, because it’s been a tough year, both very positive, but also sometimes… I don’t like to say negative, just challenging, I guess.
So, I want to try to tell myself that I deserve a little break and some recovery, even if I’m not really good at it.
iRunFar: I think that’s totally fair. Sounds like a great year of learning, and it’s brought you to a wonderful place here, with a second-place finish, at your first 100-mile race, at the 2026 Western States 100. So, congratulations and thanks so much for talking with us today.
Puppi: Thank you. Yeah, of course.
