Kilian Jornet is a man that needs no introduction, but let’s give him one anyway. The 37-year-old is a world-renowned Spanish trail runner and ski mountaineer who’s set numerous records in races and on mountains around the globe.
These include fastest-known ascents of Mont Blanc (4:57:44, including descent), the Matterhorn (2:52:02, round trip), Mount Kilimanjaro (5:23:50) and Denali (9:45:00).
Kilian’s won numerous long-distance trail races, including the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) four times, the Skyrunner World Series six times and the Hardrock 100.
In 2017 he climbed Everest twice in six days, without supplementary oxygen, and earlier this year he summited all 82 peaks over 4,000m in the Alps in just 19 days – without using any motorised transport.
What's next for Kilian Jornet?
So in short, Kilian’s achieved a lot… But what’s next? Speaking about his future aspirations in an exclusive interview with our friends at SportsShoes.com, the legendary runner said: “I like to do a bit of everything and fill seasons with different things.
“I want to do some racing because it’s an easy way to have a carrot. It’s a very important thing to keep motivated to train.
“I will see. Everything will depend on the logistics, when the baby [Kilian’s third child] will come. But I would like to do some long-distance running races. And then some project, like what I did in the Pyrenees and the Alps. It really inspired me, but maybe something a little less risky than the Alps. It was very nice, but I think I want to take it a bit easier this year on the level.
“And [I’ll do] some races, for sure. I haven’t decided exactly what yet. It depends on the baby, and some races I’ll need qualification for.”
What about a return to Britain?
Can we expect to see Kilian return to Britain's hills and mountains, where he previously set the record on the Lake District's Bob Graham Round?
“I would love to come and do some more races,” he explains in the interview. “Some of the races are amazing. I’ve done Glen Coe in Scotland and it’s beautiful. One race that I’ve always dreamt of doing is the Ben Nevis [Race]. It’s one of the pure races. I need to do it at some time.”
That’s a prospect many fans would love to see come to life, particularly if he was to go up against 12-time winner Finlay Wild. Want to join the world's greatest trail runner in the fells? See our guide on how to start fell running.
The quotes in this story come from an interview that Kilian did with retailer SportsShoes, where he talks at length about his training and the latest launches in his NNormal range of running shoes.