Dario Cologna, a four-time Olympic champion in cross-country skiing, and household name, has found a new passion since retiring from the sport.

Dario, now 38-years-old completed his second running marathon at the Valencia Marathon on December 1, 2024, setting a personal best of 2:22:44—improving by more than five minutes from his first marathon last year.

While clearly his competitive fire still burns, Dario is quick to downplay his new endeavour as a professional pursuit. “Well, it’s just to say, it’s just for fun,” he remarked. “I always thought it would be fun to run a big marathon like Berlin, like last year, or maybe New York.”

It has been a few years since Dario retired from professional skiing, leaving behind a decorated career that saw him dominate the cross-country skiing world. Yet, his love for endurance sports remained intact. Running marathons seemed like a natural transition.

Preparing for Valencia involved months of dedication. “The last four weeks, I trained about 100 kilometres a week,” Dario explained. “It’s all about getting the kilometers in. It’s not short intervals like in cross-country skiing, but more like long-distance skiing, with a lot of threshold intervals, one hour or more.”

His typical sessions included challenging interval workouts like 5 x 4 km loops around his home lake in Davos, Switzerland, and 12 x 1 km intervals. Long runs stretched to 38 kilometres, building both physical endurance and mental toughness.

Read more: How to train properly: Understand training intensities

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Lessons Learned on the Marathon Path

Reflecting on his debut marathon last year, Dario admitted he approached the race with perhaps too much excitement. “I feel better prepared and a little bit more experienced because I started way too fast last year,” he confessed. “I was starting quite in the front, with the best athletes like Kipchoge. Of course, I didn’t follow them, but still, you go way too fast because you see them running.”

This year, his strategy paid off, delivering a significant improvement in time and a smoother race overall. Yet, the mental demands of marathon running remain a significant challenge. “A lot can happen in the marathon,” Dario noted. “It’s quite mentally tough because you have your goal. You say you have 2:30:00, and you know you have to run 3:30 minutes per kilometer. That’s quite tough.”

Despite his impressive time in Valencia, Dario remains unsure about his long-term marathon goals. “I don’t see myself as a professional runner. It’s just my personal goals,” he said. When asked about other endurance challenges, such as the Ironman triathlon, Dario laughed and responded, “Of course, you can do an Ironman, but it’s not my goal. Anyway, I can’t swim, so that’s the first problem.”

As for what lies ahead, Dario is keeping his options open. “I don’t have big goals for the future,” he admitted. “Maybe it’s my last marathon, I don’t know. We’ve discussed maybe going to New York next year in November.”

Comebacks are Trending

With big names like Petter Northug and Therese Johaug making returns to traditional cross-country skiing, Dario’s fans might wonder if he’s considering a similar comeback. When asked, he laughed and said with humour, “I heard that Northug wants to start for Liechtenstein.” Referring to Marco Büchel, a retired alpine skier from Liechtenstein, Dario joked, “If he can organise the passport, I’ll think about it. I can join him (Northug) and do the team sprint.”

Read more about Northug’s endeavours at Langrenn