Italy’s Martina Valmassoi is racing the 2025 Transvulcania Ultramarathon, having won the 2023 edition on her last outing. In this interview, she talks about staying injury-free the past couple of years, other races she’s done since her last Transvulcania, and the bit of the course she is most looking forward to reaching again.
For more on who’s racing, check out our in-depth women’s and men’s previews and follow our coverage here on the website and on Twitter/X over the weekend.
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Martina Valmassoi Pre-2025 Transvulcania Ultramarathon Interview Transcript
iRunFar: Sarah Brady of iRunFar. I’m here just a few days before the 2025 Transvulcania with Martina Valmassoi. Martina, how are you?
Martina Valmassoi: Yeah, I’m good. Thank you. Thanks for having me here. It’s great weather and I’m excited to be here.
iRunFar: We’re delighted to have you here. Thanks for making the time. So it’s not your first time. I know you were here in 2023, and you won the race that year, so that was amazing What makes you want to come back and do it again?
Valmassoi: I’ve been here many times to work at this race, and I’ve always loved it. So, 2023 was my first year running it, and it was such an amazing experience because it was my first race after a big injury I had in the previous year, in the fall. So I was in the best fitness I could have after breaking my pelvis seven months earlier. So yeah, it was a great race and I’m back because I feel like now I’m definitely in better shape, and I’ve been healthy ever since. I’m really looking forward to try to have a better time and just race again.
iRunFar: Two years of being healthy for a runner is a good stretch. So well done.
Valmassoi: Yeah, yeah.
iRunFar: I was looking into your last race here and it was pretty amazing. You won it on the downhill, really. If I’ve got this right, I think you were in second for most of the race, and you were 14 or so minutes off the lead at the high point, like a half marathon to go. And then you picked up nearly half an hour between there and the finish. That was incredible.
Valmassoi: Yeah.
iRunFar: Do you still think that descending is your strong point or is that just where you were then?
Valmassoi: No. I was extremely surprised by that because I was actually trying to survive the downhill because, as I said, that was the main issue that year for me after the injury. My leg strength was not there yet, but I was trying to secure my spot from whoever was behind me. I never thought I was going to catch anyone. And yeah, apparently I still did a pretty good downhill. But I think in terms of time, it was quite average, probably. Yeah, the first woman, I got lucky because she was definitely taking it more carefully than me. But yes, now I know that I have improved in the climb, and I have the legs to try to push harder in the downhill. So, we’ll see. I’m really curious to see how the race is going to unfold.
iRunFar: It sounds like you’ve had a better buildup anyway.
Valmassoi: Yeah.
iRunFar: So obviously, then, with being injured for a long time before that race, your training was obviously different. Has your volume and all been higher in the last little while?
Valmassoi: Yeah, I think it’s just consistency more than volume. But yeah, I’ve been running. I didn’t rush too much into the running season this time. And I think it was probably the first year ever that I’ve been running a little more during the winter, and not having to start with the biggest block before a race. And so yeah, I’m curious. And this race, it’s a pretty runnable race. I feel like I’m better when it’s a little harder, more hiking, but I’m also trying to improve there. And so yeah, I really look forward to have a good day or just to manage.
iRunFar: I was going to ask you then about your skimo season as well, and if you like mixing in a bit of running, but as you said, you did this past season.
Valmassoi: Yeah, it has been fun because I’ve been mainly doing some workouts or strides, not really like big runs or anything, but it was still nice to just doing something different than I did before. And I’ve been still traveling a little bit between the U.S. and Italy, so the conditions were never perfect for skiing. And so it was good to be able to run.
iRunFar: You had some success, though. You podiumed at Pierra Menta again.
Valmassoi: Yeah. That was fun. It was really nice. It was great adventure, like a great experience with Katie Schide, and it was her first time on the podium and on the first wave of Pierra Menta. So that made her really happy. And for me, yes, it was an honor, of course, to be racing with her. It was really great. And it’s a hard race, but it can really make you fitter.
iRunFar: Of course. It sounds like it really complements your running.
Valmassoi: Yeah.
iRunFar: And then just to recap a little since your last race here: the following year you won another big island race, the Madeira Island Ultra-Trail. How do you find that one compares to this race?
Valmassoi: The races are on two islands, but it’s so different. Like Madeira is just much more steep climbs and steep downhills. Here for sure, there are some steep parts, but it’s a pretty fast and runnable race. So yeah, I don’t know if they can compare much. Also, the terrain, I feel it’s like here, it’s a lot more sand and hard ground, and there it’s like steps and concrete. It’s fascinating. But I like to race in both the scenarios, so it’s cool.
iRunFar: Yeah. It’s good to mix it up.
Valmassoi: Yeah.
iRunFar: And then you did UTMB last year as well, and you finished ninth, which is great. And I wasn’t sure, I know you’ve done long races, was that your first 100-mile finish?
Valmassoi: Yeah, that was my first 100-mile finish in 2022, the longest race. The longest race I finished before UTMB last year was TDS in ’22, which, it’s almost a 100 miles and in terms of time. It’s really long, for sure.
iRunFar: And you won that one, of course, as well, so you’re pretty solid in the long-distance stuff.
Valmassoi: I’m still trying to figure it out because in ’23, I dropped out from UTMB. Last year was the first try, and of course, it feels like lots of things went wrong, but also I have to acknowledge that lots of things went well because I was still top 10 at UTMB, and it’s not easy.
iRunFar: Of course.
Valmassoi: But so I’m also really looking forward to go back there with more experience and knowing a little bit more about my body and how I react. So after 16, 17 hours, which is a little bit my, like most of the races I’ve done there were shorter than that, so that’s the turning point.
iRunFar: And then going forward, do you hope to keep mixing up the distances? Because this one’s obviously a little bit shorter.
Valmassoi: Yeah. I look forward. This year, I keep the distance a little shorter than UTMB. This one for sure, it’s going to feel fast. That’s going to be fast. And then I’m going to be toeing the line at Lavaredo, which is my home race. And I’ve been there only once, so for the 80k. And so I’m really looking forward to that one, it’s more than 100k, but it’s a quite fast course. I think this race will potentially prepare me well for the next one.
iRunFar: And you’re quite a prolific racer as well. I’ve seen like, you tend to do like you do a Transvulcania, and then you can do something else like a month later. So it seems to work well for you.
Valmassoi: Yeah. I don’t like to race too much, but I like to when it’s doable to just mix it up and just keep it fun.
iRunFar: So you’ve been here before, but I think the conditions were maybe not very nice when you raced here in ’23. Is there any part of the course that you’re looking forward to seeing hopefully in better conditions?
Valmassoi: Well, yeah, the high part, like above El Pilar, so like at sunset. Last year was really windy and foggy, so we couldn’t really look around much. There was nothing much to see. So I hope maybe that this year is better, but we’ll see. It doesn’t seem like it’s going to be great weather. If it rains down here in Tazacorte, I would not mind, to be honest, because I’m not dealing well with the heat. And so here, even like in ’23 when it was cold and windy up high, here was really, really warm. So it was kind of shocking just going down there on the downhill. But we’ll see. It’s going to be pretty much the same for everyone. So yeah.
iRunFar: Just roll with it.
Valmassoi: Yeah, exactly.
iRunFar: Yeah. Okay. Well, I hope you have a fantastic time out there anyway. We look forward to seeing you on the course. Thanks so much.
Valmassoi: Thank you. Thanks to you.
