Kilian Jornet grew up in the Pyrenees and was climbing mountains by the age of three. He has since won almost every major mountain and trail race there is, set records on the world's highest peaks and turned long, self-powered mountain journeys into a genre of their own. He has been a COROS athlete since 2022.
Last updated: 26 October 2026
A career without equal
Kilian broke through in his late teens and won the first of his Skyrunner World Series titles in 2007. The following year he won UTMB for the first time, and he has won it four times in total (2008, 2009, 2011 and 2022). In 2022 he became the first runner to finish in under 20 hours.
He has also won Western States, Hardrock, Pikes Peak, Marathon du Mont-Blanc and Zegama, and has a record ten wins at Sierre-Zinal, the most recent in 2024. In ski mountaineering he has competed since 2002 and won European and world titles. In 2017 he summited Everest twice in one week without supplemental oxygen.
Mountain projects
In recent years Kilian has combined racing with long projects that link mountains under his own power:
- Alpine Connections (2024): all 82 of the Alps' 4000-metre peaks in 19 days, travelling between them on foot and by bike.
- States of Elevation (2025): a self-powered traverse of the 14,000-foot (over 4,200 m) peaks of the western United States, tied to his work for public lands and the climate.
2026: back to racing, then surgery
For 2026, Kilian returned to the start lines that mean the most to him.
- Zegama (May): He ran near the front before a leg problem slowed him in the second half. He called it a hard day that reminded him why the race matters to him.
- Western States 100 (June): With a knee injury that had limited his training, he stopped at Dusty Corners, around mile 38 (61 km). He had finished third at the race in 2025.
- August: After trying to manage the knee without an operation, Kilian announced he would have surgery and would miss UTMB 2026.
Kilian and COROS
Kilian joined COROS in 2022, together with Emelie Forsberg. The partnership has produced the APEX 2 Pro Kilian Jornet Edition, with a design inspired by the nature around his home in Norway, and a virtual training programme where participants were coached directly by Kilian. He also shares feedback from training and racing with the COROS development team, so the products hold up in the environments he works in.
This is Kilian Jornet
| Full name | Kilian Jornet Burgada |
| Born | 27 October 1987, Sabadell, Catalonia, Spain |
| Home | Rauma, Norway, with Emelie Forsberg and their two daughters |
| Height | 171 cm |
| Disciplines | Trail and mountain running, ultra running, ski mountaineering, mountaineering |
| Sponsors | COROS, NNormal (which he co-founded) |
Selected wins
| Race | Wins |
|---|---|
| UTMB | 2008, 2009, 2011, 2022 |
| Sierre-Zinal | 10 wins, most recently 2024 |
| Western States 100 | 2011 |
| Hardrock 100 | Several wins, including 2022 |
| Skyrunner World Series | Multiple overall titles from 2007 |
