On Saturday morning the Gran Final of the Golden Trail Series set off. The Otter African Trail, in South Africa, was chosen to decide the winner of the first Golden Trail Series. After winning the Marathon du Mont Blanc, Sierre Zinal and Ring of Steall, Kilian Jornet only had to finish 12th to be champion.

However, the Cerdanya athlete was unable to finish the race because of physical problems from running last weekend. Although he didn’t cross the finish line, Kilian Jornet took the third podium place in the overall classification in the Golden Trail Series. “Today I started but from the beginning I saw that I had hip problems and I decided to stop, anyway, I enjoyed the atmosphere, the place and seeing my teammates running. I’m very satisfied, the truth is that in all the races there has been a lot of level and it has been a very good experience”, said Kilian.

The runners started in Nature’s Valley and ran along the coast from west to east as far as Storms River, a total of 42km and 2,600m of overall ascent. Bartlomiej Prezwojewski won in a time of 03:40:48, beating the previous record of 03:54:52 set by the Salomon runner Marc Lauenstein. Marc Lauenstein, who also set the fastest time last year, 03:50:22, came second, with Oriol Cardona third in a time of 03:51:59.

With Stian Angermund-Vik in fourth position, the norwegian wins the overall of the Golden Trail Series. Marc Lauenstein finished as runner up to the champion with Kilian, unable to defend first position, overall third.

That brings to a close Kilian Jornet’s trail running season. Injury prevented him from starting the season at Zegama but he achieved significant victories in the Marathon du Mont Blanc, Skyrace Comapedrosa, Trofeo Kima, Sierre Zinal and Ring of Steall, as well as setting a new record in the legendary Bob Graham Round in the UK..