The Catalan athlete broke his leg earlier this year but is once again winning everything from 22km Sky races, mountain marathons and breaking records like the longstanding Bob Graham Round. He is a phenomenal athlete.

And as every year passes people keep asking me the same question. What makes Jornet so special?

With one of the greatest ranges of victories in races, from three kilometres to 170 kilometres in length, what is the magic bullet that makes this man so great? Is it just one factor or just the perfect storm of genetics, lifestyle, mental attitude and talent?

Earlier this year Fast Running asked how fast could Kilian run a marathon and even then didn’t predict a super world class time. We guessed at sub 2:14 – which is still pretty quick.

Jornet is a rare talent and it isn’t even necessary for him to have two working arms to win a 100 mile mountain race.

He is also one of the fastest descenders in the sport, and this could be one of the key factors to his success, but clearly it’s not the only thing. So let’s take a closer look at some of the reasons why the 30 year-old is in a league of his own.

Downhill is easy

It was whilst discussing ski mountaineering with a good friend that this idea first popped into my head. Ollie Webb is a good skier and had started entering races where you ski up a mountain and then ski down it again a few times.

“On the uphill I could hold my own,” says the British Airways pilot. “But as soon as we started each descent I noticed I was working my socks off just to keep up with those around me. They all looked like they were just cruising downhill.

“It wasn’t until the subsequent climb that what this meant really sunk in. I was knackered from going downhill and everyone else had used it as a rest”. The trail runner got me thinking about how this might be the case in our sport too.”

Background

The true child of the mountains, Jornet grew up at Refugi de Cap de Rec, a mountain hut at 2000 meters in the Pyrenees at the cross-country ski resort in Lles de Cerdanya. His father was a hut guardian and guide in the area.

At an early age his parents took him on long hiking trips across their home mountains and Jornet was a member of the Spanish junior Ski-mountaineering team.

The idea of recovering on those long descents during races was already part of racing for the athlete. The speed and fear of downhill running was never going to be an issue.

Efficiency

Here comes the idea. Killian may be super fast downhill, but others are too. British fell runners hare down slopes like they have lost control and have no regard for their own safety, but they aren’t winning all the 100-mile races in the world.

Killian might be one of the fastest, but the key could be that he’s also the most efficient.

If each descent in a race is a recovery for the Salomon athlete, when all others around him are working hard both up and down hills, then you start to see why his success grows the longer the race distance.

2018 races

The Norway based runner and adventurer has won races like the Mont Blanc Marathon and Compederossa Sky race in 2018 and in footage of both events you see him descending with his peers but always looking relaxed.

Others strive down hills, pushing to their limits whilst the Catalan skips over rocks and gracefully passes or just sits behind, letting his prey tire themselves out. The persistence hunter of the mountain running world.

Kilian vs Jim

Once again the hype will build this summer for the Ultra Tour de Mont Blanc. A 170km loop around Mont Blanc that goes through France, Italy and Switzerland.

In 2017 the talk was of Kilian and Jim. Jim Walmsley is the American speed merchant taking ultra running by the scruff of the neck. With bold claims and PBs fast enough to back them up, the sub-29 minute 10k runner brings serious pace into the mountains.

Fresh from a course record at the Western States 100, the Hoka One One athlete is once again targeting UTMB. Last year, Walmsley waited for Jornet and French vigneron Francois d’Haene at early checkpoints as he was simply too fast.

Fast forward to kilometre 130. Walmsley is laid out on a bench whilst the ‘slower’ runners d’Haene and Jornet battle it out to the finish line. Hats off to the American for rallying and crossing the line in fifth.

Walmsley can run down a hill as quickly as the Europeans, so what is it that caused this implosion? It could have been a number of things to be fair, including but not limited to underestimating the cold, not getting enough food in or just being less efficient in the mountains.

UTMB 2018

So this year the UTMB has another stellar field. Jornet, Walmsley, multiple world champion Luis Alberto Hernando, twice winner and recent disqualifyee Xavier Thevenard. Oh and a handful of Americans all after the first male victory at the event – the US women have won multiple UTMB titles.

Even still it is difficult to see anyone beating the Catalan and efficiency could be why.

Plenty of runners are faster. Many have made the UTMB their key race of the year, whereas Jornet will race nearly every weekend in the build-up and recovered from a broken leg this spring.

When it comes to the final few climbs when everyone has tired legs and is pushing towards the finish line, you get the impression that the Catalan is just getting started. His legs will be fresher than everyone else’s as he’s yet to work them on a downhill. Losing two years in a row won’t be an option.

What can we learn?

This conjecture is all well and good. I’m no mountain world beater myself, so it’s far easier to sit back and pick at the top end, but what can we potential learn from this.

Everyone wants to run faster downhill, but will that actually help? Especially for ultra runners going long, but even for a long descent in any race.

If you can turn the descents into a recovery, whilst not going backwards through the field, does that build the consistency of your performance and get you to the finish line quicker?

Often people confuse running quickly and getting to the finish line sooner

Sprint the first 400m of a marathon and you’ll be going quicker for sure. But you won’t have your best performance over the full 26.2 miles.

Sprint down the first hill of your race and you sure as hell won’t be doing the same on the seventh descent. Efficiency is key and to get this you need to practice it. Slow down, break less and take a more direct line. Even let your body recover a little from the previous uphill.

Look at the bigger picture and slow down. You might get to the finish line quicker.

The post What makes Kilian Jornet so special? appeared first on Fast Running.

Running royalty Kilian Jornet clocked 12 hours 52 minutes to break the long-standing Bob Graham Round record – a 62-mile Lake District loop that starts and finishes at Keswick’s Moot Hall – on Sunday (July 8).

The 42 peaks climbed under 24 hours by Bob Graham in 1932 was a Lakeland Fells 24hr record, and since then the circuit has become a classic fell running challenge for many.

The previous record of Billy Bland had stood at 13 hours and 53 minutes since 1982. Many will be sad to see the mark beaten, but Jornet is a fan’s favourite and it may spur UK attempts to reclaim the record and ignite British fell running.

The Catalan runner was assisted by some of the fell running elite in his attempt. Keswick AC’s Carl Bell led the charge on leg one with runners such as Steve Birkinshaw, Rhys Findlay Robinson, Rob Jebb and Martin Mikkelson-Barron navigating en route.

For record attempts, a witness has to be on top of each summit, so it must have been difficult to find athletes who could keep up with the recent Mont Blanc marathon winner.

What makes this even more astounding is that Kilian, as the runner is widely known, broke his leg in March and has made an almost unbelievable return to his unbeatable status. Already the Salomon athlete has won two international mountain races ahead of a packed season of racing.

Billy Bland, the former record holder, was out on course to shake the hand of the man attempting to better his time. A large crowd also met the athlete upon his return to Moot Hall, Keswick. Hopefully Jornet had time for some fish and chips before he left. They were certainly earned.

The post Kilian Jornet breaks Bob Graham Record appeared first on Fast Running.

Jake Wightman may have been showing off to someone in the gym with his jumping skills. What do you reckon about the timing?

She wasn’t too impressed…

Jake-in-the-box

A post shared by Jake Wightman (@jakeswightman) on Jan 27, 2018 at 12:32pm PST

Easy mistake to make

That bloke Ieuan Griffiths is a great marathoner we hear…

When your Nan calls to tell you that S4C is doing a feature on Ieuan Griffiths… @ThomasIeuan @dewigriff10k

— Tom Marshall (@TomMarshall1500) January 30, 2018

Health and safety hazard 

Lily Partridge had a great start to 2018 on the roads, settting a course-record at the Seville half marathon. That finish line though…hopefully Lily escapes in time for the London Marathon.

TRUST THE PROCESS! COURSE RECORD! @edpmediomaratondesevilla Its been a while since I felt as strong as I did today and hoping its the start of better things as we head towards @londonmarathon ! Super happy to take the win and the record here in Sevilla, I love this city! Hopefully next time I can get rid of that PB! @fortesportsmgmt #Marathon #HalfMarathon #Sevilla #Espana #LondonCalling #SpiritOfLondon #OTEFuelled

A post shared by L I L Y P A R T R I D G E (@lilypartridge) on Jan 28, 2018 at 3:45am PST

Keeping training simple

Irish marathoner Paul Pollock has been trying something new in training this week. 10 miles on Sunday, 20 miles on Monday, 30 miles on Tuesday, 40 miles…today?

10miles on Sunday, 20 on Monday, 30 on Tuesday. Hope it's time to break the pattern @AndrewJamesHobd?! #Milesandmiles #Gonefurtherthanmycar #Gladofmy @SealyUK bed

— Paul Pollock (@ppmarathon) January 31, 2018

Chapter: Minimalist to Be a Maximalist

“The key to being a minimalist is making a routine out of just about everything that is not core to your mission. When decisions are automatic, you skip the conscious deliberation and associated brain activity.”

When someone tries explaining a chapter from “Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with the New Science of Success” to you#ad #sponsored #sponsoredtweet #running
(Cc: @stevemagness)pic.twitter.com/p73cqh9due

— DumbFloTrack (@DumbFlotrack) January 31, 2018

Sub 4 anyone?

Sir Roger Bannister may have been first but now 500 Americans have dipped under the four minutes mark – funny how the first and 500th clocked the exact (almost) time.

In a showdown, you’d like to give Don Bowden the benefit of the doubt as he was probably running in hobnail boots after a full day’s work.

Interesting fact: the times of the U.S.'s first sub-4:00 miler and the U.S.'s 500th sub-4:00 miler are nearly identical.

Don Bowden ran 3:58.7 in 1957.

Emmanuel Bor ran 3:58.77 in 2018.

— Jonathan Gault (@jgault13) January 28, 2018

That’s Sir…Nick Willis

At 34 years old New Zealand athlete is being treated with respect by the youth of America. How do you think Sir Mo Farah feels Nick?

Don’t give up the day job

Not too sure if mountain runner Kilian Jornet has mastered the skills of farming yet…

When you come back homr after a good training with sweaty hands pic.twitter.com/0y78QhwkqW

— kilian jornet (@kilianj) January 26, 2018

“Sorry, I’ve forgotten my barcode”

parkrun Ireland CEO Nick Pearson made a rookie error and forgot his barcode for the Saturday morning run, which led to this public shaming on Twitter. Never again eh Nick? Maybe we’ll see you next in our top 10 fastest parkrunners?

This is Nick our @parkrun CEO …
Last week Nick forgot his barcode
Nick did not get a result …no barcode no result
But this week Nick will remember his barcode …and Nick will be happy#BeLikeNick and don't forget your barcode#DFYB#loveparkrun https://t.co/64TvyJz0HI

— parkrun Ireland (@parkrunIE) January 26, 2018

The post Jake Wightman leads the social media moments this week appeared first on Fast Running.

The 2:10 barrier would be the target and there were questions raised as to whether this was an achievable target for the world’s best mountain runner or just plain unrealistic.

Now, Jornet’s complete dislike of all things tarmac aside and the fact you couldn’t see him doing a training run on the road, let alone a whole marathon, could 2:10 be achievable? Let’s play a little game and see if could hypothetically do it.

2:10 is a fantastic result in a marathon, but still well short of the Denis Kimetto’s best mark, Sondre Nordstad Moen’s European Record and even Julio Rey’s Spanish National Record of 2:06:52. What I mean is that 2:10 is a great time, but not so far out of the realms of possibility to dismiss it out of hand for a mountain runner.

Now, what about the marathon running pedigree of mountain runners in general? Is there a precedent for coming out of the hills onto the roads and setting the world alight? You don’t have to look far to see the marathon PBs of runners like Kenny Stuart (2:11:36) to see that Jornet would not be the first to descend from the slopes and run a great marathon – Salomon’s road shoes could probably use the publicity.

RELATED: Kilian Jornet wins Hardrock 100 with dislocated shoulder

What about recent examples?

The British team for the 2017 World Championships was made up runners who have spent time on the mountains, with Josh Griffiths and Andrew Davies having represented their nation at Mountain Running Championships. Yet the runner who qualified, but didn’t make the start line in London, Robbie Simpson, is one of the best athletes to compare, given his past ability of pushing Jornet at races like Sierre Zinal in Switzerland.

Simpson was able to post a fine 2:15:04 at the 2017 London Marathon, 12 months after his equally impressive marathon debut of 2:15:38, but was plagued by injuries between the London Marathon and the London World Championships that seemingly weren’t even affecting his phenomenal uphill mountain running. Could Jornet’s body also be affected by the road mileage required to go five minutes quicker than Simpson?

RELATED: Robbie Simpson: Mountains, roads and vegetables

What about the marathon pedigree of other competitors?

Some would say that Jornet is dominant over the mountains because the level isn’t as high as road running, there’s isn’t a huge east African contingent in mountain racing but there are some. Eritrean Petru Mamu, a disgraced World Mountain Running Champ who was caught for doping violations in 2017, is one athlete that has beaten Jornet in recent years – he has run 2:15:16 for the marathon, but still 12 seconds slower than Scottish runner Simpson.

Some athletes come into mountain running after successful road and track careers, such as one of the greatest of all time Jono Wyatt, now a Head at WMRA. Wyatt represented New Zealand at 5,000m (13:46) & 10,000m (28:08), half marathon (62:37) and ran a marathon PB of 2:13 in Hamburg in 2003, in the middle of his mountain running career and the same year he set the Sierre Zinal record that Jornet has not beaten.

So if we say the Catalan runner is the better descender of the two then you have a possible upper limit for the uphill and flat speed of Jornet with Wyatt’s times. Even with a focus on the flat, you cannot see Jornet going beyond Wyatts times.

Now you could also argue that Jornet is a tactical racer so goes for the win, rather than the record, in races like Sierre Zinal, but we do know the likes of Robbie Simpson pushed him hard for the win this year and in the past. Max King, third place in 2017, has a marathon PB of 2:14:36, quicker than Simpson’s in second, so we know it’s not all about the marathon PB in the mountains.

The longer and more technical the race, the less we can correlate the performance with a marathon time, for example the heavily billed race between Jornet, Francois d’Haene and Jim Walmsley, who has a 29:08 10km PB and 2:14:05 Marathon PR, at the Ultra Tour de Mont Blanc (UTMB) was not won by pure physical parameters, with descending ability, pacing, eating, drinking and just plain ability to suffer coming into play. D’Haene, a French Winemaker, has run 2:34:42 at the Marathon Internationnal du Beaujolais, which is on trail and a little hilly. It’s not 2:10 though.

Least we forget the physiological nature of the man we’re discussing. VO2 Max testing back in 2012 gave a score usually reserved for cross country skiers. 89.5, ml.kg.min-1. is nearly as high as any testing seen and a lot higher than plenty sub 2:10 marathoners, but we know that VO2 Max isn’t the only factor in road running, with running economy on the flat, not up and down mountains, a key element too.

Probably the athlete with the biggest similarity to Jornet in terms of performances and range of distances is American Matt Carpenter, who had a VO2 Max recorded at 90.2, set records at short and ultra distance mountain races and had a marathon PB of 2:19. Carpenter was a little lighter than Jornet when racing, (55/56kg compared to 59/59kg) so you might expect Jornet to be a little faster on that flat for equivalent uphill performances.

So the final estimate, could Jornet break the 2:10 barrier if he were to line up at the London Marathon? Just how much road training could his body take in the build-up and could it be found.

Living in Norway during the winter months doesn’t make a flat and fast long run easily accessible and the ever more enjoyable mountains are right on your doorstep. Maybe Berlin would be a better choice later in the year?

Doubting the man who has set ridiculous speed records up and down the Matterhorn and Mont Blanc is not a wise thing and you get the impression that if he put his mind to it, great things could be achieved in any sporting sphere, but could he put his heart into it? The hypothetical nature of this discussion will most likely always remain as such, for this is a true mountain man we are talking about.

For what it’s worth if you’d have said 2:14 was the target, there’s a possibility, but 2:10 might be a road too far. I’ll take a gamble on 2:13:23, although that’ll likely never get proved or disproved, so it’s just for fun anyway. I wonder what the man himself thinks he could run?

The post Could Kilian Jornet run a 2:10 marathon? appeared first on Fast Running.

The Hardrock 100 in Colorado, USA, is one of the toughest ultramarathon courses across the world. During the 100.5 miles trek across mountainous terrain, runners face an elevation change of 66,100 feet.

Crossing the finish line with his left arm in a sling, Jornet won the 2017 edition in 24 hours, 32 minutes and 22 seconds.

Still not impressed? In May of this year, Jornet climbed Mount Everest not once, but twice in the space of two weeks.

Jornet’s injury in the Hardrock 100, came 40 miles in when he slipped on snow. Afterwords he said he didn’t take any medication to deal with the pain.

The post VIDEO: Kilian Jornet wins Hardrock 100 with dislocated shoulder appeared first on Fast Running.