Everything will be settled in the final!

Although she has been in trail running for several years now and represented her country at the World or European Championships multiple times, even winning medals there, true fame came to her after she had won last year’s final race at Golden Trail Series in Italy. Since then, however, she hasn’t reached the first place of the podium. In Annecy at the European Championship, she managed to win two brown medals, she finished second in Marathon du Mont Blanc, Chamonix, came third in Sierre-Zinal, Switzerland and in the United States she got second place in both races. We talk with the new Salomon star, Madalina Florea discussing topics of her athletic career, injuries and approach to running.

Interview by Jedrek Mackowski, the main photo: Mammoth 26k / Mathis Decroux / ©Golden Trail World Series®

Jedrek Mackowski: Madalina, what is wrong with you? Second place again - don’t you like to win?

Madalina Florea: (Laughs) I don’t know, that is a good question. I ask it myself, why can’t I reach the first place this season? However, the most important thing is to put on the „queen of trails” crown at the finals and I still hope to do so. That's where everything will be decided. I’m also not going to hide that, because I won last year’s final race I feel more pressure, a lot of people expect a repeat. The truth is, though, everyone is equal on the starting line, expectations don’t really matter. This year some new girls, who didn’t race the previous year, have shown up and are trying to set their own set of rules. So everything is possible. I am stepping into this game and I will squeeze everything good that I can out of it, for myself. My main goal is to have fun, because life is not only about winning races. If an opponent sees that he runs faster than before and doesn’t win, he should be proud of himself anyway, because he sees the growth. I am growing.

Who is your biggest opponent in this game?

If you’re asking about the next race (we were talking before the race in Mammoth, USA - editor’s note), then my biggest opponent will definitely be the elevation gain. Racing at such heights, one can run too fast and lose everything in the blink of an eye. Lose everything, reaching beyond one’s limit. When it comes to the competitors, I think that Judith Wyder, Joyce Muthoni as well as other female runners from America are on a similar level as I am. And probably up to the finish line it may be uncertain which one of us will be the first to cross it. About the final - I don’t want to point out anyone in particular, because I know that we are fighting about everything there and it will be intense. This final is like the unwritten Olympic Games of trail running (laughs).

A year ago, here in Mammoth you lost your trail, tripped on the descent and lost your victory because of that. I remember how you were sitting at the finish line, crying and as soon as you saw me recording, wiping your tears you said with that beautiful sporting anger …

That I was going to win in the final, and so I did! (laughs radiantly) I don’t want any more journeys like that, I want it to be a normal race, in which a stupid mistake won’t decide about the outcome. A year ago, a moment of distraction was enough for me to run towards a guy with a camera, dressed in a banana costume. It sounds ridiculous. It was definitely my fault, I should have followed the trace in my watch more carefully and not looked around and trusted the audience, like in this case.

From what I know and observe about you, even though you seem so wild and all over the place in your everyday life, you also seem to be really focused on races and your running career. Over the past year, what changes have you made to your preparation for the season?

Yes, I have always been focused on my goal. The biggest change of the year so far was the support that I got from Salomon. A year ago I ran wearing a t-shirt on which I had written „looking for a sponsor” with a marker. And this support that I got this year is a huge step, when it comes to my training capabilities and athletic development. You know, Romania is not a country that guarantees good visibility and support to its runners.

You have a lot of good runners, especially when it comes to long-distance ones, though.

Exactly, but we don’t have the needed support. I appreciate what I have received. I don’t have to worry, about whether I can afford to go on the championship I want to compete in or if I want to come for a course preview two weeks in advance, I can do that as well and prepare better for the race. It’s the same when it comes to choosing preparation camp locations, etc. This support has lifted a huge amount of stress related to preparing for the races, off me. So I can simply say - Golden has changed my life.

You came to trail running from the treadmill and road races. You placed 7th at the European Half Marathon Championships with a time of 1 hour and 11 minutes. That is very fast, flat running. Your record score for 10,000 meters is 32 minutes 55 seconds…

Yes, I remember that race vividly, It was in 2015. I really wanted to win a medal in the European Athletics U23 Championship, but I came fourth. I lost it in the last 80 meters. A day later I raced for 5000 meters and also didn’t win a medal, I lost literally by a few centimeters. Photocell decided about that. My time was 15 minutes 48 seconds which was still too slow. To this day I am laughing to myself, saying If I had bigger boobs I would have won the race. I pushed my chest as much as I could at the finish line to get that medal, but that didn’t help. Maybe that’s a good idea though, maybe I should stack my bra with socks to improve my chances (laughs).

And was it the lack of those undeniable successes that made you switch to trail running? Did you have any other reasons?

The future of a runner is often determined by injuries. My biggest one was in 2018, when I tore my Achilles tendon. After my surgery I didn’t believe I would be able to run again. I had to learn how to walk again. And when I started to run, I couldn’t mentally cope with the fact that I was falling behind the competitors I used to compete with. It was a very painful experience. I thought to myself, I would try mountain running and that really helped me. Also mentally, because suddenly, I was alone surrounded by beautiful nature and I started to focus on it, more than on myself. I noticed a lot of variables that influence the run such as the weather, and type of ground, not always dependent on you. And that really calmed me down. I learned to accept those variables.

In 2018 I raced my first World Championships in Argentina. I was 14th, and together with the Romania team I scored a brown medal, which encouraged me to give the treadmill a try once again. But I still ran 10 km a minute slower than I used to and my competitors, instead of running away, were flying away from me. I returned to the mountains and had a breakthrough year in 2022, in which I scored second in the European Championship, right behind Mode Mathys who is my mountain role model. I believed in myself again. I am her biggest fan, for me she is a complete athlete and a complete woman at the same time and that encouraged me to focus completely on the mountains and progress in this sport, so I can be the best.

I know it is not the end of the season yet but do you maybe have any plans for the next year already?

Yes. I am fully focused on the GTS final, and after that I am not slowing down, I want to fight for next year’s OCC qualification and I’m going to race in Mexico in November. So far I can’t mentally accept that distance (laughs). Until now my longest race was Marathon du Mont Blanc and I was also afraid of the distance back then, but it went all right so I want to check if I am already on that level where I can run a 50 km race quickly. So I want to find out if I am capable of it and the main goal for the upcoming season is to not harm myself, avoid getting injured. Really simple and hard at the same time.

You are someone who easily draws attention on the start and finish lines. Are those behaviors an act to attract media attention or is that who you really are Madalina?

You know, since this season I feel more comfortable with the Golden team, the photographers, cameras and journalists. Last year I was a bit shy, my English wasn’t so good and I couldn’t communicate. I hardly knew anyone here. And a lot of people from Romania know me as this quite crazy girl. When I have an opportunity to dance on a table, I don’t see a problem…

Yes, I saw a Tatra Sky afterparty, how you danced on the stage…

Exactly! (laughs) I feel more myself now. Of course, I get nervous before the race, and I disconnect from my surroundings, but after the start I want to show my true self - open to people, smiling Madalina. I want to live in the moment and be happy about where I am and what I can experience, because what if, tomorrow for some reason I stop running? I will be only left with „train, race, sleep, eat and repeat” memories. No, I don’t want that. I am crazy in a good way and I want to share this craziness with others. My life doesn’t just revolve around racing and winning. If I see a runner on a track who needs help, I will stop to help her, because there are more important things in life than running, I saw you made a post about the floods in Poland, in Romania things are not so good as well. Those are the important things. Running should be just a very pleasant bonus.