Back on the podium for the second time, Germany’s Katharina Hartmuth placed second at the 2025 UTMB. In the following interview, Katharina talks about how she recovered from placing third at the Hardrock 100 earlier this summer, stomach issues during the first part of the race, how she would have preferred drier weather but was committed to having fun despite the rain, and how the closing kilometers of the race played out.
For more on how the race played out, read our in-depth 2025 UTMB results article.
[Editor’s Note: If you are unable to see the video above, click here to access it.]
Katharina Hartmuth Post-2025 UTMB Interview Transcript
iRunFar: Eszter Horanyi with iRunFar, here with Katharina Hartmuth after her third-place finish at the 2025 UTMB. How are you?
Katharina Hartmuth: I’m good, bit tired, legs hurt a little bit.
iRunFar: Just a little bit?
Hartmuth: Yeah, this morning they hurt quite a bit.
iRunFar: Oh, you’re better now?
Hartmuth: I’m a bit warmed up now, yeah. It helps.
iRunFar: Perfect. So, the last time we talked was at Hardrock, six weeks ago, where you also placed third, but I know you weren’t super excited about that race. How did you rebound from that and show up here?
Hartmuth: Yeah. Yeah, it’s definitely a different third place this time, I feel much happier about it. Actually, I recovered quite well from Hardrock, I came back to Europe the week after the race, and just a week out of the race, I did a big hike, and I was like, “Oh, my legs are feeling surprisingly good.” And yeah, I gave them a proper rest, but then started training 10 days after Hardrock, maybe, proper training. I actually managed to get in a couple big runs, and yeah, it felt good. Maybe it’s the fact that I walked a lot in my Hardrock in the end, so I was already starting with the recovery during the race. But I felt well-prepared for this one.
iRunFar: And then you had the altitude advantage because you were there for a while.
Hartmuth: Yes. Yes, I was at altitude for seven weeks, and I definitely felt it coming back, like the boost of the oxygen, at least for a couple of weeks, I was like, “Oh, this is great.” Yeah, I think it certainly helped with the recovery.
iRunFar: So, you showed up feeling pretty recovered and ready to go?
Hartmuth: Yeah, I would say so. Yeah.
iRunFar: Okay. So, I feel like, as far as where you were in the race, it was sort of like a race of two halves, because the whole first half up to Courmayeur, you were sort of out of the top 10 and sort of back there, and then obviously you finished third. So, what happened in that first half? Or was that an intentional, you wanted to take it out more conservative?
Hartmuth: Actually, it’s not so much of an intention, but I can’t go faster in the beginning. It was the same two years ago. In the beginning, the race is so fast, and I’m like, first, I can’t run that fast because I know I will destroy myself too early, and second, I’m like, I don’t want to run that fast. I want to get into the race, and take my time, let things settle, and I think I know that if I hold myself back in the beginning, I’m still able to run, well, I’m still getting slower, but I’m also still able to hold a relatively high pace, well, at least compared to everybody else, by the end of the race and in the second half. So, that was one thing, but then also, actually this year, until Notre-Dame de la Gorge, I had quite some struggles with my stomach, I felt really nauseous and also a bit dizzy in my head.
I wasn’t sure if I was sick or if there was something going on, and I had some diarrhea, so it was suboptimal. But I had to slow down a little bit because I couldn’t run just with feeling so sick. And then, luckily, in the night everything improved a little bit, maybe the rain help, I don’t know. Yeah, and then actually, yeah, it was like two years ago, I managed to keep a relatively consistent pace in the morning and also in the day, and work my way through the field, and actually, I realized once more in the race, for me it’s much nicer to stay behind and only catch people later in the race. Because I think otherwise, I just realized that in the end of the race, in the last 15k, I feel that pressure. I’m like, okay, I’m in a spot now, I better keep this position. And it’s much harder mentally than when you just stay behind, and you’re like, okay, there’s still 60k to go, let’s see how it works out.
iRunFar: Yeah. When did stuff start turning around for you? And were you worried that, “Oh dear, my stomach’s just trash and this is it?”
Hartmuth: Yeah, I think it started getting better when we were just going into the mountains, 40k, and suddenly there’s no crowds anymore, it’s silent, and you’re like, okay, we breathe for a second, we just all calm down and settle into this race. And I think then it got better, maybe also because I was suddenly distracted with the weather turning in, and there was something else that kept me occupied. But yeah, I think it was also just not being so nervous anymore with all the crowds. Yeah.
iRunFar: Well, it’s interesting because Hardrock is usually where everyone’s stomach turns, because it’s a high altitude race, and I feel like your stomach was pretty okay for most of that?
Hartmuth: Yeah, yeah, this year I managed, at Hardrock, it was pretty good. I’ve never really had a bad stomach here, at lower altitude, but yeah, I don’t know, maybe there was something going on, but luckily it disappeared.
iRunFar: Good. So, let’s talk about the weather. So, last year at Tor des Géants, you had 24 hours of rain. Did you see this forecast and were like, “Yes, I know how to deal with this,” or were you more, “Man, I wish this wasn’t the forecast?”
Hartmuth: Both, kind of. I saw the forecast and I was like, “Oh man, in the night, come on,” and it would be cold, we knew there would be snow at the top, and yeah, I wished for drier conditions because yeah, I knew it would be very uncomfortable just being wet and cold for many hours. But yeah, knowing what happened last year in Tor, at least I was like, I knew, okay, I can deal with this. Because last year in Tor, it was a bit the same, I went into the race, I was like, this forecast, I really don’t like it, but then during the race, I was like, okay, I can get comfortable with being that uncomfortable in the rain. And somehow I managed that pretty well, and so this year I was like, “Okay, it will suck, but I know I can do this, I can manage.”
And actually, I felt not too bad in the night. I felt like I was in the right place with my mind, also because I was prepared that it would be a challenging situation with the weather, but yeah, I really was motivating myself and just trying to still have a good time and enjoying this, and I think that worked pretty well.
iRunFar: Yeah. When I saw you at Grand Col Ferret, which is, I forget how far it is, but it’s one of the high points near the middle…
Hartmuth: Not so near the end.
iRunFar: Not so near the end, no, I’d say more middle than end.
Hartmuth: Yeah.
iRunFar: Second half.
Hartmuth: Yeah, second half.
iRunFar: You were, of all the people I saw, you were one of two people who were able to smile. Everyone looked so ragged and tired and miserable, and you were fully bundled up, you had your hood up, full jacket, full everything, and you looked good.
Hartmuth: Yeah, I didn’t feel so good at that point, but I was happy that the climb was over. And yeah, I think yesterday was also a race where I tried to remember myself, keep smiling, you’re doing this because you love it, and nobody forces you to do this. And yes, the conditions, sometimes they’re not so nice, but yeah, I still love what we’re doing here, so just keep smiling. It also tells your brain that things are good, so I think it worked.
iRunFar: So, after Grand Col Ferret is sort of where you started to really move up in the field. What switched there? Was it just your stomach getting better or was it an intentional, I’m going to go now? Or how did that all play out?
Hartmuth: It was not intentional, I think it was just I was able to not slow down as much as the people ahead of me. Because I didn’t feel great because my legs, they were just hurting from Courmayeur, and I was like, well, maybe they recover at some point, but they never really did. So, I was just like, well, I guess this is it for now, and for the next, I don’t know, 10, 12 hours.
iRunFar: Like, this is what we’re doing now, so off we go.
Hartmuth: Yeah. So, I was just settling into being uncomfortable when running, and just having the pain in the legs, and trying to not think too much about it. And yeah, two years ago it was a bit the same, I didn’t really force it, I didn’t really chase people, I was like, okay, if I catch them with just keeping my speed, then that’s fine, then I don’t have to waste too much energy too early. And only, actually, I only started racing when people told me that third place was coming close because then I was like, okay. I would’ve been really happy with fourth place because I was just happy with my race, but then I was like, okay, now, suddenly third place is there, and I could get it. Okay, that would be actually pretty cool. But, well, I was a bit scared because I was like, well, it’s Courtney [Dauwalter], come on, it’s probably not that easy. Yeah, but then that was the point, I was like, okay, let’s see if you can finish this actually racing.
iRunFar: So, you ran yourself onto the podium, sort of by Vallorcine, which was, I think, potentially the biggest party on the course.
Hartmuth: Oh yeah.
iRunFar: What was that whole experience like?
Hartmuth: Oh, that was great. I think it was a good thing that Courtney was there because everybody was there waiting for her, and going absolutely crazy like they always do when she appears. And I already heard that coming down, the announcer, and the crowds are ridiculous. Last year was already big, but this year was unmatched. And so, she was running out while I was running into the aid station, and the crowds go crazy, and I just left a minute after her. So, the crowd was just still there, and super hyped and on fire, and I was like, “Oh, this is great. Now I get also all the hype from the crowd.” Yeah, that was really cool. That was almost like Notre-Dame, it was almost too many people. You had to shout like, “Hey, give me some space.”
iRunFar: Wow.
Hartmuth: Yeah, no, that was certainly good to have that boost for the final stretch.
iRunFar: And then when you did pass her, what was that like, being like, I’m in a podium position now. Were you running scared, or what was the last bit?
Hartmuth: Yeah. Well, first I was like, I didn’t really want to overtake her because I was like, man, she was leading the race, she did great for such a long time, and people told me all the way down to Vallorcine, “Oh yeah, she looks like she’s really suffering,” and I was like, I felt bad for her. I was like, yeah, I almost felt a bit bad overtaking her, but then she was just like, “Go, do your thing,” and I was like, okay, I will do this now. And then, as soon as I had overtaken her, I was like, “Okay, now I’m in third place, now I don’t want to be overtaken again,” so I actually tried to really fight for third place, and just run away from her, and kind of create a gap. But yeah, I didn’t know how big, the gap was actually getting bigger quite quickly. So, I was like, “Oh, maybe she’s just around the corner, I better hurry.” So, it was good actually to push out the last climb because I was like, “Man, I don’t want to lose this now.”
iRunFar: Yeah. If you have a big gap behind you, then you might not push as hard and then it just takes you longer?
Hartmuth: Oh, totally. At the top, they told me she’s 30 minutes behind, and I was like, okay, I can take the downhill easy. Which was nice because last time I had to run away from Blandine [L’Hirondel] because we had only five minutes at the top, and that was really stressful in the last downhill. You’re so focused on not falling on all these rocks and roots and whatever, so it was quite nice to actually know, okay, I can take my time to the finish, I can actually enjoy my finish, it’s not stressful. So, that was good. But yeah, before the entire climb and also the stretch to Col de Montets was, yeah, that was tough. Yeah.
iRunFar: So, you’ve been on the podium twice now at this race, do you think you’ll come back?
Hartmuth: If they put the Pyramids back again, in the race, maybe.
iRunFar: A little more climbing, a little more technical?
Hartmuth: Oh man, a little less running would be nice. No, I don’t know, probably yes, because it’s just still the biggest race that we have, and the atmosphere is just unique, and also the competition, it’s just great to have a great feel of strong women competing, so that’s something that draws me towards the race. The race itself, the course is, yeah, it’s certainly not my favorite. I like it, it’s a beautiful course, but it’s just so much running, and I’m more like the technical runner/power hiker. So, give me a few days. Maybe, I guess I will be back at some point, but I’ve already decided to go back to Tor next year because that’s just, I love everything about that race, and yeah, it suits me way better. So, I will not run UTMB next year, but maybe in the future.
iRunFar: Well, congratulations on your third place finish.
Hartmuth: Thank you.
iRunFar: And we’ll see you in the mountains.
Hartmuth: Yes, of course.
