As he gears up for the new season, Kilian Jornet has added an extra race to what is a mouthwatering race calendar this season.
The ultrarunning GOAT is rewinding the clock 15 years or so as he takes on old favourites like Western States and UTMB again in 2026.
The 38-year-old had already revealed most of this year’s race schedule – basically the events where the competition will be at his fiercest, something he relishes.
It was going to start with Western States on June 27, which he won in 2011 and was third last year behind relative youngsters Caleb Olson and Chris Myers.
That was followed by Sierre-Zinal in Switzerland’s Valais Alps on August 8, arguably the most competitive ‘short course’ event on the calendar and a race which he has dominated like no other, winning it no less than 10 times.
And then comes UTMB in Chamonix on August 28 where he has been victorious four times, the latest in 2022 when he became the first person to go under 20 hours in the sport’s biggest race.
‘Impossible not to come back’
And then on Monday [March 16] he revealed one more iconic race will also feature to kick off the season, writing on Instagram: “There’s one more race. Zegama-Aizkorri. May 2026.
“This year marks 25 years of @zegamaaizkorri. A quarter century of one of the most iconic mountain races in the world: 42 kilometers, 2,736 meters of vertical, technical terrain in an atmosphere unlike anywhere else on the planet.
“For the 25th edition, it felt impossible not to come back.
“So…four races now! Zegama. Western States. Sierre-Zinal. UTMB. The season just got more interesting!
“See you in the Basque Country.”
Changing priorities
What there won’t be this year is a “long project” after ‘States of Elevation’ last year and ‘Alpine Connections’ in 2024, though he believes that epic adventure in the USA has left him “a better athlete today than before”.
And speaking in a new YouTube series [embedded below] he gives a fascinating glimpse into how he now balances training with all the other aspects of his busy life, whilst acknowledging: “I’m stoked that I’m able to make a profession from what I love.”
Earlier in his career it was mostly about running but now he has a young family, a business – after co-founding NNormal – as well as being a prominent and passionate climate advocate working to raise awareness about environmental protection.
The Catalan legend explained: “I think one of the hardest things is to find the time to do what you want to do well because when I did the races, the first time like 2010, 2011, I was doing this calendar and many more races.
“But then I was just basically like sleeping, eating and training and racing and I had not any other preoccupation in my life.
“Now you need to take care of things like the family, business and things that you care more about – like nature and what is the world that the future generations will live in. And I want to spend time on those things to try to do it well.
“But I also know that it’s not possible to do everything great if you are not putting all the time on resources. So for me it’s about acknowledging that, that if I want to still compete I need to train and to put the effort on that.
“And in some periods of the year that will be my priority.”
And in terms of what that training may involve, he added: “I would say it’s the same base. You need to be healthy in all the systems and to have a good base for everything. But then of course I cannot be doing exactly the same thing because my physiology is evolving too and and we need to do things a bit differently.
“And also specifically for Western States, seeing how I executed the race last year – where I was strong, where I wasn’t. That’s helping in terms of how can I change my training for this year race?”
