It must have been five or six years ago that Denisa Dragomir visited Innsbruck for the first, and so far, only time. But it was a visit that left a lasting impression on the Romanian. "What a beautiful city, with its historic core, and the mountains within reach," she still enthuses today.

Dragomir comes from a part of Romania where urbanity also combines with nature, south of the Carpathians, from Transylvania. Her hometown Campulung was co-founded by Saxon settlers, Dracula’s castle Bran is about 30 kilometres away from her current place of residence Brasov.

Just as tourists come to her region, Dragomir travels the world to discover the most beautiful running areas and win the most important races (first in mountain running, now in trail running). Her list of achievements is impressive, as is the range - from vertical to trail to Skyrun. And yet her running career may not have started by chance, but it did start unusually. "I was ten when I wanted to prove to my cousin that I could run as fast as her," Denisa Dragomir looks back, "so I entered a school competition and came in third." And then she was captivated by the beauty of running: Flat at first, then over obstacles. Ten years ago, the Romanian won the Junior European Cross Championships and turned to nature and the mountains. Mountain runs and Skyruns followed; in both disciplines, Dragomir showed up and took victories and titles.

Since 2014, when she finished seventh at Sierre-Zinal in Switzerland, she has been part of the elite. In 2019, she became European Skyrunning Champion, in 2021, she won the Skyrunning World Series, and in 2022, she became World Trail Short Champion in Chiang Mai, Thailand. "It was a perfect race," she says, "I was highly motivated after a three-month injury break in the summer. I felt very good, and the profile with two long uphills and technical downhills suited me very well." She laughs, "downhills are really where I feel comfortable, and the more technical, the better."

And that's why the defending champion is already looking forward to the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships 2023 Innsbruck-Stubai"The profile is tough, the course with its 44 kilometers a bit long for me, and even though I don't know how technical the trails are, it's clear that it's a real race in the mountains." Dragomir is planning a site visit next April or May, "Tyrol is not that far from my home." She has long been used to 12-hour car rides.

"My goal is to defend my title in Tyrol. All other competitions in 2023 are secondary. I'm very happy to be able to be an ambassador for the World Championships, and quite honestly, it's extra motivation for me to train even better and race even better!"

But the Romanian should not have any motivational problems anyway: "I don't think about having to win, because first of all I love what I do. Running is a kind of therapy for me; when I'm out running, I can push all other thoughts and problems aside and be completely by myself. And important victories don't make me lazy on the contrary, they make me even more committed."

She trains using to two training plans, one for the flat, one for the mountains, and she accumulates between 200,000 and 300,000 metres of altitude per year, "certainly not more. But nothing is difficult for me training-wise. As I said, I love what I do!"

Images: © WMTRC 2021 Chiang Mai, privat, Mihai Ștețcu, Attila Szabo