After finishing in third place last year, Spain’s Kilian Jornet lines up for the 2026 Western States 100 a decade and a half after he won the event in 2011. In the following interview, Kilian talks about his lead-up to the race, some of the parts of the event that have changed and others that have stayed the same, how he thinks the cooler weather on race day will influence the racing, and the importance of preserving public lands.
To learn more about who’s racing, check out our men’s and women’s previews before following our live race coverage on race day.
[Editor’s Note: If you are unable to see the video above, click here to watch it.]
Kilian Jornet Pre-2026 Western States 100 Interview Transcript
iRunFar: Meghan Hicks of iRunFar. I’m with Kilian Jornet. It’s a couple days before the 2026 Western States 100. Here we find ourselves again at Western States, Kilian.
Jornet: Yeah, after a long gap of 15 years, two years again here. I’m so excited. It’s such a nice place and such a good atmosphere this week between Broken Arrow [Skyrace] and Western.
iRunFar: You wrote on your social media back in February about how this race just seems to draw you back in. Back in 2010 and 2011, you said you had a great time here and the heat got you a little bit. And then last year in the final stages of the race, something sort of clicked for you and made you want to come again. Can you talk about that a little bit?
Jornet: Yeah. I knew I wanted to come back when I crossed the finish line. Like, I really like.
iRunFar: Did you?
Jornet: Yeah. Because when I race in 2010 and 2011, I didn’t feel good during the race. It’s really not who I am as a runner. And I struggling on these flat trails and the heat and it was like, “Oh, that’s hard. It’s not enjoyable.” But last year, with a bit more specific preparation, I enjoyed the race and I ended up feeling good. So it was like, “Oh, it’s fun actually to race it.” So yeah, here I am again.
iRunFar: For me, it’s a little bit of a parallel. You came earlier, you had a difficult year and then a less difficult year. You sort of solved the things of that time. Do you think about last year and this year is a little bit of a parallel to that? Like you came last year and you’re like, “Okay, I figured some stuff out. Here’s some more to tweak”?
Jornet: Absolutely on that. But then I had so many struggles this year with the injury. So I think some things that last year I saw that I could improve a bit more on the race tactics and preparation, I have been doing that on training. And I feel more confident than I was last year on that. But then also the last month preparation, it hasn’t been ideal, but it’s how it is. It’s not that … I always think you cannot be thinking of like what if the injury didn’t happen, because it happened. So it’s just to get the best to the start line.
And yeah, I’m confident of the training I have been doing and on the preparation on the heat and on the running. So yeah, I think every race is a war like it, but yeah, I think I feel good with that. And also I think it will be different race with some of the younger runners that was their first experience last year, like Hans [Troyer] and Jeff [Mogavero] or like [Francesco] Puppi and Thomas [Cardin] that probably this year they are much more confident too. And then like a Jim [Walmsley] that has the experience or a-
iRunFar: Hayden [Hawks].
Jornet: A Hayden. So it will be, I think last year the pack was very, very close all the race, but I think this year it will be even like deeper on that. So that allows for more pushing too, but also probably that some people go a bit too hard at some stages. So it will be very interesting, I think, to follow the race.
iRunFar: Yeah. And you’re as much a student of the sport as the rest of us. You know exactly what’s on the starting line with you. You also know how we have a very unique weather forecast that seems to be settling in. Have you mathed all of that out and really thought about what this men’s race is going to look like?
Jornet: I think it will be fast for sure. Already last year it was very fast on the early stages, and then it was hot so we all slowed down. So this year I think it will be same, like a big pack going very fast, and probably much less slowing down because it looks like … I wouldn’t say it’s cold. It’s still hot, but not as hot as usual. So I think it will be that. And yeah, probably as usual, the canyons will make some differences, but still like from Foresthill on, I believe that it will still … If Jim isn’t like one hour ahead of everybody, I think it will still be a lot of battle between all of us.
iRunFar: You touched on it before, but in my mind one of the key points of the men’s race this year is the experience and the intelligence. There’s three prior champions, five prior podium finishers, six of the 10 fastest times in history, the fastest debuter. It’s just a lot of collective intelligence. There have been wild pushes for paces over the years, there have been really like come from behind type of things, but as the pack gets smarter and more intelligent, I just wonder just your thoughts on that, on the evolution of strategy and working together as a pack and that growing dynamic.
Jornet: Yeah. I think we will see it more and more. We see on road marathons, and I think it’s especially here in Western States, that it’s a race that it’s more about resilience. If you compare it to some more technical races where the uphills and downhills play much more of a role, there you can see people going faster at the beginning because they are stronger on uphills and then they know that whatever. But here, as the race is not really about the strength on climbs and downhills but more about keeping the high pace all the time, we really see this phenomenon of have a big group and then later on in the race to see who is really able to keep the pace. And I think it will be more and more.
And this year I think it’s just so special because it’s not many that have been dropping from like injuries or things that normally it happens, but this year it seems that everybody’s coming here healthy. So that makes even more that I think it will be like … I might be completely wrong, but I think that it will be still a big group and then just everybody trying to keep together because we know that it will be at the last hours the one that is more adapted and more resilient that will have a better performance.
iRunFar: One of the things that I’ve been thinking about with Western States is this race has such a good documentation of data and we know the history of every race. And sometimes I wonder if our knowledge of the past limits us a little bit. I think about in 2024 when Jim Walmsley won, he had to run away from Rod Farvard at the river and he ran a split that’s like seven or eight minutes faster than anybody’s run for the final 20 miles of the race. When you just let go of numbers and you let go of sort of the baggage of history, I wonder sometimes could we realize more potential at a race like this if we weren’t so data-based sometimes?
Jornet: Yeah, sure, especially races like that, that it’s always the same course and it’s kind of always the same trails and kind of stable conditions. So we really know this data. And I think it’s good to have the change of generations, too, that is bringing a fresh air and then like people is daring more and then it push everybody. So I think that’s how the sport evolves, like that our generation we dared to push harder than the previous generation. That’s why times get faster. And the generation after was pushing harder, and these new kids also are pushing us harder and they are pushing hard. So it’s about understanding all the data and all the knowledge that we have been seeing on the past, and with that, trying to not copy, but to do better. So that’s how we are able to go faster year after year kind of.
iRunFar: I think one of the interesting things about you and Western States was that you were here 15 years ago and then there was a gap. Of course you followed it remotely, but then now two years in a row, you’re here. So you have this really interesting perspective of seeing a point in time for Western States and now seeing another point in time. What were some things when you were here last year that you were like, “Oh, well that’s the same, nothing’s changed there?” And where you’ve been like, “Oh, that’s kind of cool that Western is doing that now.”
Jornet: Yeah, I think the atmosphere is exactly the same, like these vibes and the aid stations, when you enter in Auburn, and the stadium here, the start of the race. And the feeling on the course, it’s kind of that’s very, very similar. When you are talking with the volunteers, and that reminds exactly the same ambience. What is changed, it’s much more people in the course, especially at Foresthill.
iRunFar: It’s like a city, Auburn is right now.
Jornet: Yeah, it is now. It’s a big city there.
iRunFar: It’s a little Chamonix-esque for a minute.
Jornet: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, still like a lot of work to do to go to Chamonix levels, but it’s a lot of people. And to have this TrailCon the week before, you see much more movement. And also like how we race, I think that changed a lot, like the crewing part. Before it was really like you were taking one gel maybe every hour. And like ice, sometimes you were putting a bit of ice, but now it’s like the amounts of ice that we are putting on to cool ourselves and the amount of food in the aid stations, that has changed completely. It’s different. I think before it was much more like you were more adventurous kind of, and now it’s more dialed on the performance side, on the cooling, the fueling, and the knowledge of the terrain.
iRunFar: Zooming out from this race into the world that American trail running operates in, you were here last summer for over a month, traveling through the American West. You have a new hat to the new perhaps movement that’s starting now. Yeah, I’m very interested to see this hat, this movement, this idea, especially after you having been in the American West and experiencing so deeply America’s public lands, and then knowing that a race like this and all of what we’re doing is dependent on that.
Jornet: Yeah, I think that’s something that many times we take for granted. But we are running here and most of our runs are on some sort of public lands like national forest or national parks, wilderness areas, and we are able to do that because it’s this kind of preservation. Last year when I did the States of Elevation project, I could admire all these vast, wild areas which are unique. It’s not many places in the world that keeps those ecosystems developing purely.
And that’s something that it’s important to preserve because if we do some extraction, some damage to those places, it’s not growing back. The damage will be done. So those ecosystems, they preserve millions of species of animals, plants, bacterias that we need them to survive as a species as humans. And I think that even if it’s not a perfect system, like the public land system, because it depends on the management and the actions that they are done, but at least it’s kind of a lot of safeguards that we put before some damage can be done, while if it’s private, even if it’s like some … Let’s say it’s a philanthropy, that they want to preserve, you are very close to have a change of hands, like that the next generation is selling those lands and then like it’s-
iRunFar: Anything can happen.
Jornet: Anything can happen. And I feel sometime like as imposter, like someone from Europe talking about that, but nature don’t know about borders and species don’t know about borders. We are all, as humans, we need to preserve hotspots of biodiversity. We need to preserve natural resources. And if we want our kids and the next generations, and even when we disappear as a species, the species that will follow that they are able to enjoy what we are able to enjoy. I want my kids to be able to go to nature to experience that. And it’s something that it feels that it’s in danger.
iRunFar: I feel like your perspective as an outsider, a European looking in, is actually really important because my generation of Americans and younger, we were just born with this gift of a quarter of our lands are wild, are public. We don’t know that it was different before that and that a couple generations before us really worked to make the lands public and available to all. And we also don’t necessarily know that other countries aren’t like that.
Jornet: Yeah.
iRunFar: So I find your perspective, like coming to America and reminding us, “What you have here is really special, but it’s not guaranteed. It’s not like that everywhere.”
Jornet: Yeah, it’s not everywhere like that. And it’s a gift that you have and it’s important to … I always believe it’s not that we own the land, it’s a loan that we have for the next generation. So we need to keep it that way.
iRunFar: Yeah. Kilian Jornet, best of luck to you in your fourth Western States. Enjoy the run from Olympic Valley to Auburn.
Jornet: Thank you very much. Will be fun out there.
