Defending UTMB champion Kilian Jornet pulls out of 2023 event
Widely regarded as one of the greatest trail runners of all time, Kilian Jornet will not be running the 171km Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB) on 1st September.
As a four-time winner and course record holder, the Spanish athlete has withdrawn from the biggest trail ultramarathon in the world due to a sacrum injury.
In a recent Instagram update, Jornet explained that an ongoing injury in his sacrum will prevent him from competing.
‘No UTMB for me this year,’ he wrote. ‘I still can’t run due to the sacrum injury so we decided it was better to prioritize a good recovery and try to do something fun when the pain disappears.’
The athlete injured his sacrum [a triangular-shaped bone at the base of the spin] in training two days before Eiger Ultra earlier this summer. Despite his injury, Jornet pushed through and secured a UTMB Running Stone (a prerequisite for his participation in the ultimate UTMB event in Chamonix) at the Eiger Ultra Trail. He crossed the finish line in 48th place.
‘Two days ago, after some great weeks of training, I felt a strong pain in my right glute, so today I didn’t want to take any risk. I ran enjoying the landscapes and chatting with the fellow runners,’ he wrote on his Instagram.
Last August, the 35-year-old won UTMB for the fourth time – he first won the race in 2008 as a 20-year-old and returned to win in 2009, 2011 and 2022 – breaking the course record and becoming the first person to set a sub-20-hour time, completing the race in 19 hours and 49 minutes.
The crown is now very much up for grabs, but who will take it? Names to watch include British runner Tom Evans – who won Western States 100, in California, in June – American runner Jim Walmsley – who is taking on the UTMB race for the fifth time after finishing in fourth place last year – and Frenchman Mathieu Blanchard, who finished second at last year’s UTMB.
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