July 6 to 14, 2022. The fiesta returns after two cancelled years. Every encierro, every ganadería, every video, and the stories the numbers leave out.
Three years. That is how long it had been. Standing in Pamplona in July 2022, the city felt like it was exhaling for the first time since 2019. Everyone who came back that year. The regulars, the first-timers who had bought tickets for 2020 and waited, ran with something extra. The energy in Santo Domingo on the 7th was unlike anything I can compare it to. You could feel 1,089 days of anticipation in the crowd.
Most of the week was genuinely clean. Six runs came and went without the kind of drama that makes headlines. The Victoriano del Río run on the 13th was a thing of beauty: compact herd, two minutes eleven seconds, the fastest of the week, and not a scratch. Then Cebada Gago happened on the 11th and reminded everybody why we respect this route. Three gored in one morning, two of them inside the ring, the bull Mariseño making contact twice in the arena. That is the encierro. One morning changes the whole picture.
Dennis Clancey, Founder of Encierro
The 2022 San Fermín was the first full fiesta since 2019, following two straight cancellations caused by the pandemic, the longest gap in the modern history of the encierro. When the eight bulls ran on 7 July, it had been 1,089 days since any runner had stood in Santo Domingo for a morning start. The city responded: Pamplona recorded more than 1.7 million participants across municipal events, a 20 percent increase over 2019, making it the most-attended San Fermín on record at that point.
Across the eight running of the bulls, six runners were gored by horn, one of the lowest tallies in a decade. The Navarre Health Service logged 92 encierro-related medical attentions, with only six hospital admissions (down 64.7 percent from 17 in 2019). The story of 2022 is not a dangerous year; it is a year with one dangerous morning. The Cebada Gago run on 11 July produced three of the six gorings, two of them inside the bullring. Every other morning was clean or close to it.
The fastest run came on 13 July when Victoriano del Río covered the 875-meter route in 2 minutes 11 seconds, a ranch record. The slowest was Cebada Gago at 3 minutes 8 seconds, the same morning that produced all the drama. The full year-by-year archive and the 2021 cancellation record put 2022 in its full context.
Six runners gored across eight mornings. One morning: Cebada Gago on the 11th, accounted for half of them, and reminded the route why no encierro is routine.
“Beti bezala” is Basque for “as always” or “like always.” The title said what everyone in Pamplona was feeling: after two pandemic cancellations, the fiesta was back, like always. The poster was created by Olaia Merino Erviti, a designer from Sarriguren, Navarre (born 1993), and chosen by popular vote with 1,603 votes out of 8,191 valid ballots cast, the highest average daily vote rate in the history of the contest.
The modernist figures in the design celebrate the crowd of San Fermín: people in motion, color, joy, and collective festivity. Merino drew on the aesthetic of 1930s fair posters, viewed through a contemporary lens. She was the third consecutive woman to win the cartel contest, following Adriana Eransus (2018) and Edurne Taínta (2019).
Cartel: “Beti bezala” by Olaia Merino Erviti · Official poster of San Fermín 2022 · Source: Ayuntamiento de Pamplona
Selected as the official poster of Sanfermines 2022 through Pamplona’s annual concurso de carteles.
All eight runs with ganadería, time, horn injuries, and the official RTVE video. The route runs 875 meters from Santo Domingo to the ring; see the route map.
A fast, clean opener after three years without a run. No gorings. A crush in La Curva and a small pile-up at the arena entrance, but the herd ran together and the first post-pandemic encierro closed without a horn wound.
A long, tense morning: the herd disaggregated and the bull Zalagarda (565 kg) balked in the callejón and turned back toward the runners, creating danger at the arena entrance. No gorings, but one of the more unsettled runs of the week.
The fastest-ever José Escolar run in Pamplona, on wet ground after rain. The albaserrada bulls ran unusually compact with no toro suelto. One runner received a minor horn graze; seven transferred for treatment, all discharged.
Multitudinous and fast; the herd largely stayed united but a toro suelto caused tension on Telefónica, with many falls in the final stretch. One man gored with slight injuries. The family of Daniel Jimeno paid tribute at post 66 during this run.
The most dangerous run of the week and the slowest. The bull Mariseño gored two runners inside the arena; a third was caught in the street. Three gored in all: a 22-year-old from San Sebastián, a 25-year-old American, and a 29-year-old from Valencia. Six transported to hospital.
Fast and fall-heavy. The bull Tonadillero knocked a woman down at the Plaza Consistorial entrance, fracturing her elbow. One young man gored in the right arm; the wound required surgery but caused no nerve or vascular damage.
The fastest run of San Fermín 2022 at 2 minutes 11 seconds, a Victoriano del Río all-time record. A compact, noble herd with four bulls arriving at Telefónica abreast. No gorings; five treated for falls and minor trauma.
The legendary Miura bulls closed the fiesta with one of the shortest runs in their history and the cleanest morning of the week. Very compact through Estafeta; no toros sueltos. The official tally was clean; six treated for minor injuries, all discharged.
Before the fourth encierro, on July 10, at the fence post numbered 66 on Telefónica, the family of Daniel Jimeno Romero laid flowers and a red San Fermín neckerchief bearing the names of every runner who has died in the Pamplona encierro. It was the 13th anniversary of his death: Daniel was 27 years old when he was killed on July 10, 2009, the last person to die in the running of the bulls.
The 2022 tribute carried extra weight. After two pandemic cancellations, this was the first time the family had returned to post 66 for the morning ritual since 2019. Sixteen runners have died in the encierro across more than a century of recorded history. Daniel Jimeno remains the last. Despite the drama of the Cebada Gago run, 2022 added no name to that list.
The chupinazo that opened San Fermín 2022 came at noon on Wednesday, July 6, fired from the Casa Consistorial balcony by Juan Carlos Unzué, the former professional footballer and coach, in the presence of Mayor Enrique Maya. Unzué, who had been diagnosed with ALS, launched the rocket from his wheelchair, to one of the most emotional receptions the plaza has seen in years. The fiesta ran July 6 to 14 and closed nine nights later with the candlelit Pobre de Mí at midnight.
The year’s cartel was “Beti bezala” (“as always” in Basque) by Olaia Merino Erviti of Sarriguren, chosen by public vote. The XXI Concurso Internacional de Fuegos Artificiales de San Fermín was won by Italian pyrotechnician Federico Tibaldi, whose collection “Amígdala Rinascimento”, launched on July 11 from the Ciudadela, earned him the San Fermín de Oro trophy and 5,000 euros. The jury cited the perfection of the shot and the use of space, with rich color changes that held in the sky.
The dominant international angle was the same everywhere: the fiesta returns after two pandemic years. Wire services drove global pickup from the first morning.
The planning dates and key moments of San Fermín 2022, kept on the record.
The cartel “Beti bezala” by Olaia Merino Erviti was announced as the winner of the popular vote, with 1,603 of 8,191 valid ballots, a record for average daily votes cast.
Assembly of the vallado (encierro fencing) began, earlier than usual, to adapt the Santo Domingo corrals to the recently rehabilitated Baluarte de Parma. Scale: 900 posts, 2,700 planks, 120 palisade walls, 80 doors, built by the Aldaz Remiro carpenters who have held the contract since 1992.
Eight ganaderías confirmed: Núñez del Cuvillo, Fuente Ymbro, José Escolar, La Palmosilla, Cebada Gago, Jandilla, Victoriano del Río, and Miura. No debutant ranches: a return of the established roster after two cancelled years.
The chupinazo opened the fiesta at noon; Juan Carlos Unzué fired the rocket from the Town Hall balcony. Nine days later, Pobre de Mí closed the fiesta at midnight on July 14.
Eight encierros ran on eight consecutive mornings at 8:00 a.m. Six runners gored by horn. Six hospital admissions. Zero deaths. Fastest run: 2:11. Slowest: 3:08. Participants across all fiesta events: 1.7 million, up 20 percent on 2019.
Six runners were gored by horn across the eight encierros, one of the lowest tallies of the decade. Three of those six came in a single morning, the Cebada Gago run on July 11. The other five mornings produced a combined three horn injuries.
In order from July 7 to 14: Núñez del Cuvillo, Fuente Ymbro, José Escolar, La Palmosilla, Cebada Gago, Jandilla, Victoriano del Río, and Miura. No ranch debuted in 2022; every ranch in the lineup had prior San Fermín experience. The closest to a newcomer was La Palmosilla, which had first appeared in 2019.
Victoriano del Río on Wednesday July 13, at 2 minutes 11 seconds, the ranch’s all-time record in Pamplona. The slowest was Cebada Gago on July 11 at 3 minutes 8 seconds, the same morning that produced the most gorings.
No. The last death in the Pamplona encierro was Daniel Jimeno Romero on July 10, 2009. The 2022 fiesta was the 13th consecutive year without a fatality in the run. The Jimeno family returned to post 66 on Telefónica on July 10, 2022, the first time they had been able to do so since 2019.
It was the first full fiesta and the first encierros since 2019. The 2020 and 2021 San Fermín festivals were both cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic, making 2022 the return after 1,089 days without a run. The city recorded more than 1.7 million participants across municipal events, a 20 percent increase over 2019 and a fiesta-attendance record at the time. To understand how runners prepare for the encierro, see our guide to running with the bulls.
Juan Carlos Unzué, the former professional footballer and goalkeeper-coach (Osasuna, Barcelona) who had been publicly diagnosed with ALS. Mayor Enrique Maya invited him to open the fiesta. Unzué launched the rocket from his wheelchair on the Town Hall balcony at noon on July 6, dedicating it to healthcare workers and to all people living with ALS.
2022 was the return. For what happened next, see San Fermín 2023, or learn the route the way active runners teach it.