Kilian Jornet is a world champion ultrarunner and ski mountaineer from Catalonia, Spain. He has not only set records on the world's most difficult ultramarathons like Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc, Hardrock 100, Western States 100, but he also holds the fastest known times for ascent/descent of the Matterhorn, Mont Blanc, Denali, and Mount Everest.
Born in 1987, Jornet was raised in the shadow of the Spanish Pyrenees. By age 5 he had completed the ascent of Aneto, the Pyrenees' highest peak. Among his many accomplishments in trail and ultra running, he is the four-time champion of Europe's Skyrunner World Series, three-time champion of the grueling Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc, 2011 winner of the world's oldest 100-mile race, the Western States Endurance Run in California's Sierra Nevada, and two-time National Geographic Adventurer of the Year. He has set speed records on mountains across the globe, including Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa's highest peak. Jornet is author of Run or Die, available from VeloPress.