ANNECY, FRANCE — If there is ever a couples trail race, the smart money is on Kilian Jornet and Emilie Forsberg. This weekend in the highly technical trails of the Salomon Glen Coe Skyline trail race, both Jornet and Forsberg took home victories.
Just two weeks after a runner-up finish at the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc, Jornet ran away from the field in the final kilometers in Scotland, and set a new course record in the process. He finished the 55 km race in 6 hours and 25 minutes. Salomon athletes Bhim Gurung finished 4th while American Max King continued his amazingly strong season with a 5th place effort.
Meanwhile, on the women’s side, Forsberg showed she is fully recovered from a knee surgery that sidelined her for much of the last year, winning and setting a new course record time. She finished in 7 hours and 53 minutes, besting second-place finisher and fellow Salomon athlete Megan Kimmel. Salomon’s Meg Mackenzie was 8th.
Both Jornet and Forsberg were in Salomon footwear and apparel in winning what is quite possibly the most technical race on the skyrunning calendar, with exposed ridges and summits. Jornet wore a prototype S/Lab Sense shoe with a super grip sole, a prototype S/Lab T-shirt, S/Lab Sense Shorts and an S/Lab Ultra vest. Forsberg prototype Salomon S/Lab Sense Soft ground shoes, S/Lab Exo zip tee, S/Lab shorts, a Salomon S/Lab Ultra vest and Exo socks.
“I’m very happy with the result,” Jornet said. “It was a spectacular race, very technical over the entire course and with sections of actual climbing. But it’s the sort of terrain I normally train on and which I like to race.”
Next week Jornet will complete his trail running season at the Marato Pirineu, where he grew up running in the Pyrenees.
Mira Rai returns to win Ben Nevis Race
Also in Scotland, Nepalese ultra-runner Mira Rai returned from a lengthy injury hiatus to win the Ben Nevis Race in her return to competition after an injury. Rai, who was voted National Geographic’s Adventurer of the Year for 2017, finished in 15 hours 27 minutes and four seconds. She finished in 6th position overall using Salomon apparel and footwear from head to toe.
On the men’s side, Donnie Campbell (Team Salomon UK) won the Ben Nevis race and Michael Jones from Salomon Ultra-Running Academy Europe finished 3rd.
Stian Angermund-Vik & Laura Orgué complete double wins in Scotland
Congratulations go out as well to Salomon athletes Stian Angermund-Vik and Laura Orgué, who each recorded double wins in Scotland. They both won the vertical K races on Friday and then returned to win the 29 km Ring of Steall Skyrace on Saturday. Vertical K masters Angermund-Vik and Orgué took the honors in style, setting new course records on the track that gains 1,000 meters of vertical over five kilometers—Stian in 42:04 and Laura in 52:22.
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