Kilian Jornet, alongside Armin Höfl and Jakob Herrmann, has finished third in the legendary  Mezzalama Trophy. The winning team was made up of the Italians Michele Boscacci, Robert Antonioli and Matteo Eydallin

The event, run over a modified course, was dominated by the weather conditions with low temperatures and high winds

“Competitively speaking, it was a really interesting event. We were practically neck and neck until the third ascent. In fact I now know there was little more than three minutes between the three teams, in a long and hard-fought race,” said Jornet

In his first and only winter season competition, Kilian Jornet enjoyed being part of the team with the Austrians Armin Höfl and Jakob Herrmann and took a podium place in the legendary Mezzalama Trophy which, due to bad weather conditions, was run over a modified course. The trio of athletes crossed the line in a time of 4h49’21’’ to take third place in one of Europe’s classic mountain skiing events which forms part of the Grande Course. It was a hard-fought race in which the the winners were the Italians Michele Boscacci, Robert Antonioli and Matteo Eydallin (4h45’30’’) with Werner Marti, William Boffeli and Martin Anthamatten (4h48’21’’) taking second. “Competitively speaking, it was a really interesting event. We were practically neck and neck until the third ascent. In fact I now know there was little more than three minutes between the three teams, in a long and hard-fought race,” said Jornet.

The event, postponed until today because of adverse weather conditions, started this morning at 5.30 from Breuil Cervinia with the weather forcing changes to the original circuit over 45km and 3,272m of overall ascent. The ascent of Castor (4,226 m) was cancelled and the athletes, in groups of three, disputed the event in low temperatures and high winds, with the winning post in Gressoney-La-Trinite.“The weather conditions were very difficult. Yesterday we didn’t know if we could begin. In the end they opted for an alternative course worthy of the event. It was technical and demanding,” said Jornet.

Jornet, Höfl and Herrmann fought almost to the last with the trios made up of  Boscacci, Antonioli and Eydallin and Marti, Boffeli and Anthamatten, but it was the three Italians who won in the end. “We lost some time towards the end but we felt good throughout the race. It was a great race, hard fought from start to finish. I’ve come away from it feeling very satisfied and ready to think about racing on foot,” said the Cerdanya athlete, who won the Mezzalama in 2011 alongside Didier Blanc and William Bon Mardion.

The Mezzalama Trophy, run over high altitude peaks in the Valle de Aosta, was Jornet’s only race in the winter reason and the first since recently becoming a father. However, Jornet has remained very active, training in Norway and setting out challenges such as how many metres he can ascend in 24 hours. Now Jornet is in training for the summer season.