Mindfulness Facets, Sport Anxiety, and Psychological Outcomes in Ultra-Trail Runners: A Pre-Competition Study

Objectives Ultra-trail runners face sustained psychological demands during pre-competition preparation, yet little is known about factors associated with mental health in this population. Guided by Monitor and Acceptance Theory (MAT) as a heuristic process framework, this study examined associations between mindfulness facets, sport anxiety, and psychological outcomes in ultra-trail runners. Method Participants were 216 ultra-trail runners (86.6% men; M age = 41.3 years, SD  = 8.6) assessed 6–8 weeks before a major competition. Measures included the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire, Sport Anxiety Scale-2, Athlete Burnout Questionnaire, Chalder Fatigue Scale, and WHO-5 Well-Being Index. Indirect effects were tested using bootstrapped confidence intervals. Results Non-judging and Acting with Awareness showed consistent negative associations with burnout ( β = − .25 to − .30), fatigue ( β = − .20 to − .24), and positive associations with well-being ( β  = .15 to .27). Observing showed null or marginally positive associations with burnout. Sport anxiety showed a statistically significant indirect association in the Non-judging–burnout link (27.8% of the total effect). Notably, parallel mediation models revealed that indirect pathways via cognitive anxiety were substantially stronger (37.1%) than via somatic anxiety (2.0%). Exploratory analyses suggested a small, marginal Observing × Non-judging pattern, whereby Observing was positively associated with burnout only at low levels of Non-judging. Conclusions Acceptance-related mindfulness facets were associated with lower burnout in ultra-trail runners, with statistical indirect associations via cognitive anxiety stronger than via somatic arousal. The cross-sectional design precludes causal inference; however, these associations may help inform hypotheses for future longitudinal and intervention studies examining whether acceptance-focused mindfulness training and cognitive decentering reduce pre-competition cognitive anxiety and burnout risk in ultra-endurance athletes.