Kilian Jornet Pre-2010 Western States 100 Interview
June 24, 2010 by Bryon Powell · 31 Comments
We caught up with Kilian Jornet two days before the Western States 100. Kilian talks about his desire to run Western States 100, winning the ski mountaineering world championships (he was humble about it), and his training for Western States. He also give advice to beginning (and all) ultramarathoners. Here you go!
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Filed under Interviews and Profiles, Races, Video ·
Bryon Powell is the Editor-in-Chief of iRunFar.com, which he founded five years ago. Also the author of Relentless Forward Progress: A Guide to Running Ultramarathons and a contributing editor at Trail Runner magazine, he's quickly approaching 10 years as an ultrarunner and 20 years as a trail runner. These days he calls Park City, Utah and its trails home.
All posts by Bryon Powell
Nothing would surprise me. The guy’s an inspiration.
This was a little akward but cool.
The interviewer talked more than Kilian… a bit too much I’m afraid.
Awesome interview Bryon! It is exclusive articles and videos such as this which make irunfar.com the best trail runner site on the internet.
Great interview! Thanks for putting that together for us!
Cross language interviews are tough, and in light of that, I think you did as well as you could (I am reminded of the recent marathontalk interview with Sammy W).
Bryon – did you make specific picks? (sorry if that is redundant to some other post, comment).
George, the really cool thing is how much Kilian’s English has improved in the past 9 months. I never would have thought of interviewing him one-on-one last September and had actually tried to coordinate with Salomon to get a translator ahead of time… but his language skills have improved SO much that it’s awesome.
Oh, and I’ve made specific picks… except they’re not public yet. That said, I’ve confirmed Kilian and Devon Crosby-Helms as my picks to win.
Thanks for the interview Bryon! That will be really interesting race…
… and thanks a lot for the bumper sticker! got it yesterday
Tatiana
Bryon, thanks for awesome interviews! Thanks for the hard work you do for this sport! Both this interview and Andy’s were fun to watch.
Trailgirl, constructive criticism and a thank you would likely go a lot further than your current comment, methinks! Didja know that the interviewer is doing stuff like this for pretty much free for people like you?!
You’re right Meghan and my apologies to Bryon as well for the kneejerk post. Been following this stuff religiously on irunfar and definitely appreciate the interview.
Kilian seems to be a very soulful runner/mountaineer/person. I’m excited to see what he will do in the Western States (I think 2nd or 3rd), but his adventures will be inspiring no matter what happens. I’ve become a big fan in the last few months!
Great interview. Go Kilian!
Excellent interview, Bryon!
Given his past performances, I was most surprised when our spaniard wonderboy did not come up as the #1 favorite for WS.
I understand he might not (yet) be that popular among the USA ultra community.
He sure is an inspiration to all ultrarunners in Europe, particularly to us spaniards.
His Pyrenees feat, I believe, made no sense from a training/competitive perspective looking at WS. He went for it out of sheer love of the mountains. And what a magnificent adventure it has been!
¡Gracias Kilian! Even if it might have undermined your winning chances at WS100, it was truly beautiful.
Best of luck to all WS100 fighters tomorrow…and may the best one win.
¡Vamos Kilian!
Great post mayayo. The guy is incredible. I can’t wait to see what he does at WS100. It’s gonna be a great race with such a solid field of elites!
Bryon, I got my bumper sticker the other day, thanks. It looks great on the wife’s car.
Mayayo, what a funny name!
It also strucks me how unknown this fellow still is outside Europe. Provided all the media support Salomon has given, I am tempted to think that the States Trail community remains yet inward-looking.
But this chatter is precisely the contrary: open, international and launched to the blogshpere. So congrats lads & peeps at the other side of the Atlantic!
Will follow the online race. Sure.
Cheers,
SPJ
Great interview but I could not hear who Kilian “is looking forward most to run against”. I think he said Roes??
…It´s incredible, last 2 years he won with authority the Ultra Trail du MontBlanc and now we have to wait and see how is he in this faster race. But keep in mind he has got almost everything to be the best Trailrunner of history.
He is really a mountain Beast.
Keep pushing guy!!!!!!
Kilian is an interesting study, so much raw talent and only 22 when a lot of ultra runners don’t hit their stride until 30 or so it seems. My only issue is he’s so pimped out by Salomon it just seems like over commercialization of a sport that has its roots in purity and sheer enjoyment. Like the 7 new pairs of shoes and socks that Kilian will have for the race, I mean do all the pros change their shoes that often??
Given all that I think it is between Kilian and Anton.
Good points Mark but keep in mind that mountain sports are much bigger in EU. They are extremely popular with young and old alike. Their stars are like our NBA or NFL stars. It is a different vibe for sure. The difference between UTMB and Hardrock is a case in point. The money comes when the audience is there. I hope we never reach that level of commercialism in the US but if I were a pro athlete, it might be nice to have some of that support.
The seven shoes reminds me of the team car in pro cycling, bristling with fresh wheels and bikes. Quite different from pro MTB racing that has a much more self-sufficient ethos. To each their own I suppose.
Tomorrow is sure going to be fun to watch!
7 pairs of shoes? c’mon, that’s silly. Hope it’s a joke. If he changes shoes, he’s wasting time…really?
He’ll be wearing two pairs at most. Per Kilian.
I got the 7 number from the Salomon’s FB Page, 7 new pairs of shoes and 7 new pairs of socks. 2 seems a little more reasonable.
As you can see here http://www.facebook.com/salomonrunning#!/photo.php?pid=12716837&id=184041215345&fbid=10150207730710346
There are in fact 7 pairs of shoes. But of course all these shoes are not new.
The important is that he protects his feet until the arrival by avoiding running with the wet feet.
So the idea is that he will have the chance to change them in every check-point if he needs it.
You have to understand it, he is simply the best. Could you imagine Nadal or Federer going to play Wimbledon’s final with only 1 racket?
This is very different than the approach that is usually taken at a 100 miler in the US. It would be extraordinary for any top competitor to change his or her shoes more than once… and unlikely even that. Plus, aside from sweat, his feet won’t get wet after mile 35 once he’s off the snow. Racers are crossing the American River by boat this year.
Good stuff. I think it would’ve been better if the interviewer was looking just at Killian and not paying attention to the camera so much. Other than that, A-OK!
Charles, thanks for the suggestion. I’m new to all this. Perhaps in the future I should discuss where to focus with interviewees.
Kilian is soooooo incredibly humble. And he is soooooo gonna win WS tomorrow.
Meissner, you know he’s my pick to win, as well. Kilian is one of the most humble folks I’ve ever met… but there’s a unstoppable beast hidden under than soft exterior!
I think the interviewer is in love with Kilian !
More like a kid in a candy shop on Christmas Eve.