If you follow the competitive ultra running scene, you likely know that Kilian Jornet is arguably one of the best ultrarunners in the world.
Kilian Jornet is a Spanish ultramarathoner from Catalonia with countless mountain climbing accolades and ultramarathon wins to his name.
Jornet is the six-time champion of the Skyrunner World Series, and has many other high-profile ultramarathon wins under his belt, including Grand Raid, the Western States Endurance Run, and the Hardrock Hundred Mile Endurance Run.
Perhaps most notably, Kilian Jornet won the 2022 Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB), which is considered the preeminent ultramarathon race in the world.
Not only did Jornet decisively win the 2022 UTMB, but he ran a record-setting time in the event of 19:49:30.
Plus, Kilian Jornet’s win at the 2022 UTMB World Series Finals ultramarathon was his fourth career victory at the esteemed event.
The Spaniard ultrarunning king has a stab at turning his four-time UTMB World Series Finals champion status to a five-time UTMB winner, as 35-year-old Jornet battled through an acute glute injury in the Eiger Ultra Trail by UTMB E16 Pleasure Trail ultra this weekend in Grindelwald, Switzerland.
Despite finishing in 48th place, which is much further back than Jornet would have liked, his performance in this UTMB World Series Finals qualifier race was good enough to earn himself the vital UTMB Running Stone.
The Eiger Ultra Trail by UTMB E16 Pleasure Trail 9.9-mile trail race only had a single UTMB Running Stone up for grabs, and Kilian Jornet was able to pull off the race he needed.
With the UTMB Running Stone, Jornet was able to seal his place at this year’s UTMB World Series Finals in September.
Reportedly, Kilian Jornet sustained the high hamstring/glute injury just two days before the Eiger Ultra Trail by UTMB, but wanted to try muscling through the race anyway in hopes of jabbing the UTMB Running Stone to confirm his entry into the 2023 UTMB World Series Finals.
After the trail race, Jornet took to Instagram and wrote:
“I took my race easy. Two days ago, after some great weeks of training, I felt a strong pain in my right glute, so today I didn’t want to take any risk. I ran enjoying the landscapes and chatting with the fellow runners.”
The event was won by young buck Lorick Buclin, a 16-year-old ultra runner from Switzerland who finished the UTMB trail race in 1:21:26.
Another Swiss runner, Roxana Elisabeta Rotaru, won the women’s race in 1:31:14.
You can learn more about the UTMB World Series ultramarathons—including the upcoming 2023 UTMB World Series Finals—here, and how to qualify for UTMB here.
If you are interested in getting into ultra running yourself, check out our free ultramarathon training plans here.
