Almost two decades have passed and Kilian Jornet’s only rival in the Zegama-Aizkorri is still Kilian Jornet. His eleventh victory in the most sought-after mountain marathon in the world was never in doubt. Training doesn’t lie and the great tyrant of trail This spring he improved his 2022 times, the year in which he not only won, but also shattered the record by more than seven minutes to 3h36m40s, a breeze for 42 kilometers and 2,750 meters of positive gradient. And that he will continue there for another year, his only imperfection on a Sunday in which he has pulverized his rivals: 3h38m07s, the second best time in history. Elhousine Elazzaoui repeated second place at 8m09s, an abyss for someone who in 2023 was 26s away from the title. Bart Przedwojewski, the Pole who closed the podium, was the happiest, assuming his mortal condition: “It is impossible to beat him. He is on another level for runners like us.”
Kilian detonates any rebellion plan by the Kenyans from the start and sets course towards a time trial against himself. And he wins it until the halfway point, surpassing the 2022 partials with an advantage that reached 40 seconds. This is how Aizkorri crowned, after that two-kilometer pilgrimage from Sancti Spiritu, an adoration on par with the Tour de France, the reason why more than 10,000 people are trying their luck in a draw for 250 of the slightly more than 500 bibs distributed by the organization. But his somewhat swollen belly reminded him of his humanity in the third hour and he assumed that the record would not fall. Still, he went down like a rocket, a perfect marriage of speed and coordination. “They told me they were coming close and I had to push,” he smiled at the deception. So he looked back, putting the cyclist forced to film him on the ropes.
After the weather apocalypse of 2023, it was a dream day for runners. Without rain since Thursday, the mud had become a sponge and the cloudy sky on Sunday left a perfect temperature, on the border of 20 degrees. “The times can be compared perfectly,” stressed the Catalan, in comparison to 2022 with the dry route. As then, the pilgrimage to Zegama begins at dawn: kilometers of cars parked on the shoulder and a crowd that celebrates not so much a competition but a way of life: the mountain. An infinite drip that fills the peaks between the fog and that humidity that gives the sliding touch to the technical section, a minefield between meadow, stone and ridges.
A paradise for Sylvia Nordskar, who takes advantage of the wide stride of her height to take over a race with an uncertain prognosis, without the winners of the last seven races of the Golden Trail Series. She arrives at the shelter with an infinite smile and raises her arms, as if turning up the volume on the radio. She stops the clock at 4h29m12s and she sits on the vacant throne to which the two friends from Gipuzkoa aspired: Sara Alonso, who saw the race admitted to the hospital for pneumonia, and Malen Osa. The thermometer and its damn 39 degrees left the first, bronze in 2022, without a chance in the first place. “It is a very big loss, both for the race and for me. She is my direct rival and, at the same time, I wish her the best. I wanted to run it with her and it makes me very sad,” summarized Osa, who trains every week on that route that so many covet.
At 21 years old, Osa, a prodigy of regularity in her brief journey through the Goldens, with races on the border of 20 kilometers, ran her first marathon and managed it like a veteran: saving bullets, without appearing in the top-20 until almost the equator. She bet on the technical section, her strength, and began her hunt for second place, 6m07s behind the winner. From the Swiss Theres Leboeuf – who attacked at the start and went from more to less – to the Asturian Marta Martínez, who withstood the push and completed the podium, happily entering the finish line with the Asturian flag 20 seconds away. Like Osa, who jumped between hugs with Nordskar in another example of friendship and rivalry.
The Norwegian undid her steps to clap hundreds of palms near the finish line, the obligatory rite in a town that has become a cathedral of the trail with just over a thousand inhabitants. Like Manuel Merillas; The bad weather-loving Leonese honored his number 1 jersey as last year’s winner, even though he was about three minutes behind his number. “The biggest mistake that 95% of runners make is trying to follow other people, that’s like flipping a coin.” The best descender reduced what he could from Aizkorri, but was 49 seconds away from the podium, in fifth place.
And he congratulated, like the rest of us, Kilian, the pioneer who has promoted his sport along with his fetish career. “Zegama is Zegama,” he said, one of those simple phrases that remain. A record that is written in the present tense, because stopping does not cross his mind. “I am an amateur runner and now I am a professional for other things. There will be a time when we will run slower, but we will enjoy the same.” He says it from a vantage point, 17 years after his first victory, in 2007. Is this the best Kilian? “Okay, yes. I am training and running better. I think I’m improving a little year by year.” Improving him endlessly. The answer given by others, such as that smiling Przedwojewski who has him as wallpaper on his laptop: “Yes, it is. Every year he is the best.”
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