Kilian Jornet continued his dominance of the iconic Zegama-Aizkorri race with an incredible 11th victory, crossing the line in 3:38:07. Sylvia Nordskar of Norway improved on her 4th placed finish last year with victory this time around in 4:29:12.
Jornet turned as he approached the line and crossed backwards, less than 2 minutes outside his own course record, setting the 2nd fastest finish of all time. Nordskar shaved almost 15 minutes off her time from last year setting the 4th fastest time for a female athlete.
In a repeat of the podium last May the 2nd runner home was Elhousine Elazzaoui of Morocco in 3:46:16. He and Jornet embraced at the line with the 11 time winner clearly overjoyed for his friend and teammate.
Less than a minute behind in 3rd place was Bart Przedwojewski of Poland in 3:46:54. As he collapsed over the line, Kilian Jornet paused his own celebrations and went straight over to take care of him. This was Bart’s 3rd time on the podium in recent years having grabbed 3rd in 2018 and 2nd in 2019.
The 2nd woman to return to the main square in Zegama was Malen Osa, a hugely popular local runner who clinched 2nd place at last year’s Vertical Kilometre here in Zegama. There were euphoric cheers for the proudly Basque runner, just 21 years of age. 3rd went to Marta Martinez making a big step up from her 8th placed finish in 2023.
Jornet sets standard from the start
In a clear statement of intent, Kilian Jornet broke from the pack almost immediately on leaving Zegama and already led by over a minute at the first aid station at 8km. By the time he reached the roaring mass of spectators at Sancti Spiritu around the 19km mark only the 2 Kenyan runners Robert Pkemoi and Kevin Kibet were able to stay a relatively close 2 minutes behind him.
As the King of Zegama continued to pull away at the front though, the Kenyan runners dropped back. Just 3km on from Sancti Spiritu Elazzaoui had taken 2nd and by the 27km mark the final podium had been established.
Among the female athletes, it was last year’s 3rd finisher Theres Leboeuf who held the lead at the first aid station ahead of Nordskar in 2nd. At that point Osa was back in 12th and Martinez 7th. Just 5km later Nordskar had gained the lead and held it to the end and as others faded away Martinez claimed the 3rd at Sancti Spiritu and Ora had claimed 2nd position by the 27km timing point.
Last year’s winner Daniela Oemus eventually finished in 7th and the 2023 runner-up Caitlin Fielder took 10th. There had been heartache before the start line for another favourite, Sara Alonso who unfortunately fell ill and was forced to withdraw.
Zegama continues to inspire
Fresh faced at the finish line despite his 11th victory, a clearly elated Kilian Jornet said “to be winning again after 17 years is a dream” and said of Zegama “this is a race you always want to return to”.
Sylvia Nordskar called her winning result a ‘dream come true’ and put her performance down to having moved to Chamonix and making the move to running full time since last year.
Elazzaoui’s runner-up finish moves him to the top of the Golden Trail World Series after 3 races with previous leader Patrick Kipngeno of Kenya not racing here in the Basque Country.
All the final results from Zegama-Aizkorri can be found here: https://www.kronoak.com/live/2024/zegamaaizkorri/.
