The machine!!!

Spanish ultra-trail star Kilian Jornet wrote a new page in his legend on Saturday by winning the fourth Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) of his career, setting a new record time, below the symbolic bar of twenty hours (19 hours 49 minutes).

Jornet, who revolutionized the discipline by breaking all the codes during his first victory in 2008, is about five minutes ahead of the Frenchman Mathieu Blanchard, on whom he managed to dig away over the last twenty kilometers.

It has been eleven years since the skinny Catalan, 34 years old on the clock, had not won the queen of mountain running races, 171 km long and 10,000 meters high in elevation gain.

He had also run it in 2018 but had been forced to retire following a wasp sting, to which he is allergic.

Stronger than Covid

Jornet already had two victories to his credit this year in Zegama (Spain) at the end of May then in the Hardrock 100 (100 miles, around 160 kilometres) on which he beat his great French rival François d'Haene and set an absolute record on the 'test.

The previous record time on the UTMB was set by his compatriot Pau Capell in 2019 and stood at 20 hours and 19 minutes.

After his first victories in Chamonix in 2008, 2009 and 2011, Jornet thus fulfilled his bet of equaling the quadruple record of Frenchman François d'Haene, absent this year on the UTMB.

However, the game did not appear to be won in advance for Jornet since his participation in the race had been questioned for a time this week following a positive test for Covid-19.

After two days of suspense, it had not been confirmed until Friday noon, just a few hours before the start.

“I feel good, I don't feel any symptoms (…), so the doctors gave me the green light for me to start,” he assured before the race.

Well they obviously took it.

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  • Kilian Jornet

  • Mont Blanc

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