It’s his race, his garden, his kingdom: this Sunday, May 17, Kilian Jornet will make his return to the legendary Zegama-Aizkorri race in the Basque Country, in search of a twelfth crown. “This year marks the 25th anniversary. A quarter of a century for one of the most iconic mountain races in the world: 42 kilometers, 2736 meters of elevation gain, a technical terrain in an atmosphere that you won’t find anywhere else on the planet. For this 25th edition, it seemed impossible not to come back,” he wrote in March on his Instagram account.
The first of his four races of the year
The ultra-terrestrial will indeed be there, in the boiling atmosphere of Sancti Spiritu, for his comeback in 2026. After this race, three other races are planned in his schedule, and not the least. On June 27, he will start the Western States (won once in 2011), then on August 8 he will compete in Sierre-Zinal (ten victories between 2009 and 2024) before making his big return to the UTMB and trying to achieve a record fifth success on August 29, 2026.
On Zegama-Aizkorri, he will encounter some very tough competitors. Starting with his colleague within his Nnormal team, the Moroccan Elhousine Elazzaoui, who emerges as the one who can overthrow the legend. Other big names will also try to shake up the hierarchy like the Italian David Magnini, the Swiss Rémi Bonnet, while in the women’s category, the Swedish Tove Alexandersson is already shining brightly.
