Kilian has once again hung up his race bib and been declared the winner. This time it was in Nepal, after conquering the Annapurna Trail Marathon (42 km and 3,560 metres positive elevation gain), the final race in the Golden Trail World Series circuit, in a time of 4h46’05”. Second place went to Italian Davide Magnini (4h59’59’’) and third to cross the line was Norwegian Stian Angermund-Vik (5h08’18’’). “The sensations have been really good, it was a hard, long race and my great unknown was how I would feel after the expedition. I had been away from running for a month but in the end my legs responded well, and the altitude didn’t bother me,” explained Jornet at the finishing line.

Two months after hanging up his last race bib and claiming victory in the Pikes Peak Marathon, Jornet arrived in Nepal eager to stretch himself and compete alongside the best mountain runners in the world. So there, grouped together at the starting line of the Annapurna Trail Marathon, were big names such as the young Davide Magnini, Stian Angermund-Vik, Thibaut Baronian, Marc Lauenstein, Sage Canaday, Bhim Gurung and Aritz Egea, who fought hard throughout the race.

The route included demanding, technical sections and the biggest difficulty was the altitude, which reached 3,753 metres at the highest point of the race. Jornet, however, is highly capable of dealing with this, in surroundings and on mountains which feel like a second home to him. From the beginning, the Catalan runner positioned himself among the fastest, with he and Magnini running side by side throughout the whole ascent. From this point he managed to break away from the Italian and dominate the descent until the end. “It was a hard, demanding race, but also beautiful, as the landscape was constantly changing, combining sections of forest, woodland and high mountain,” the Catalan remarked.

Jornet reached the final of the Golden Trail World Series, the second edition of the competition promoted by Salomon, after two months of taking part in few races and winning in three of the six events in the competition: Zegama-Aizkorri, Sierre Zinal and Pikes Peak Marathon. “I am really happy to finish the season in this way, with four races and four victories,” he added.

With this victory, the runner from La Cerdanya ends the season and begins to look at challenges for the winter months.