Often considered the king of ultra marathon running, or certainly among the best ultrarunners in the world, Kilian Jornet is one of the few ultra runners who has transcended the rather niche or sport of ultrarunning to become a household name among everyday runners who have no vision of ever running an ultramarathon race.
Kilian Jornet is a Spanish ultramarathoner, who hails from Catalonia. He has countless mountain climbing accolades to his name and has racked up some of the most prestigious ultramarathon victories.
For instance, Jornet is the six-time champion of the Skyrunner World Series, and has won the Grand Raid Ultra, the Western States 100 Endurance Run, and the Hardrock 100 Mile Endurance Run.
Perhaps most notably, Kilian Jornet is the four-time winner of the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) ultramarathon, which is the world’s biggest ultramarathon, and is the current reigning UTMB champion after winning the preeminent ultramarathon race in 2022.
In fact, not only did Jornet decisively win the 2022 UTMB World Series Finals, but he ran a record-setting time in the event of 19:49:30.
Just last month, 35-year-old Jornet battled through an acute hamstring injury in the Eiger Ultra Trail by UTMB E16 Pleasure Trail in Grindelwald, Switzerland to earn himself the vital UTMB Running Stone.
The Eiger Ultra Trail by UTMB E16 Pleasure Trail 9.9-mile trail race was a UTMB World Series Finals qualifier race, and capturing the lone UTMB Running Stone meant that Kilian Jornet was able to seal his place at this year’s UTMB World Series Finals coming up in September.
Jornet struggled through the Eiger Ultra Trail UTMB trail race due to a high hamstring/glute injury that he sustained just two days before the event.
Although he was able to muscle his way through the race and clinch a chance to try and win the 2023 UTMB World Series Finals—which would have been a record-setting five wins at the ultra race—Jornet has just announced that he is withdrawing from the UTMB championships due to an injury in his sacrum.
On August 17, 2023, Jornet took to his Instagram account and shared:“No UTMB for me this year. I still can’t run and due to the sacrum injury so we decided it was better to prioritize a good recovery and try to do something fun when the pain disappears.”
Although Jornet will not be one of the competitors lining up for the 2023 UTMB finals, over 2,000 other intrepid ultra runners will depart Chamonix on September 1, 2023, at 6 PM local time hoping to traverse the iconic ultra course’s 10 alpine summits in under 46 hours and 30 minutes.
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.
