Kilian Jornet clinches victory from Marco de Gasperi at the Chamonix Mont Blanc marathon in 3 hours 30 minutes

 This past weekend saw the Mont Blanc marathon leg of the Skyrunning World Series  in Chamonix, France. The race once again brought some of the world’s top runners to the Alps to battle it out on the demanding mountain marathon course.

The women’s race was dominated by Stevie Kremer who smashed the women’s course record by 24 minutes and ended-up place 18^th overall.

In the men’s race the real battle was between Kilian Jornet and Marco de Gasperi who battled it out neck a neck right up until the final climb of the 42km race where Jornet managed to pull out a slim lead to end-up finishing just shy of a minute ahead of de Gasperi.

Racing Marco always pushes me

commented Jornet, who waited for his sparring partner to arrive before greeting him and turning round to face the press – together.

The pace of the men’s race overall was what you might call fairly rapid, with all top three runners beating Jornet’s 2012 winning time of 3 hours 38 minutes and 24 seconds.

The women’s race was dominated by Kremer, only 90” ahead of world champion and ranking leader Emelie Forsberg in the first 10k, but steadily gained on her with a 3 minute lead 15 km into the race. Forsberg suffered with stomach problems and the gap grew to 22’ with Kremer closing in an incredible 4h03’20” (18^th overall) and Forsberg in 4h25’12”.  Frenchwoman Celine Lafaye was third in 4h35’00”. Anna Frost, in her first big race of the season after a period of injury, was a happy 6^th.

Race results

Men

1. Kilian Jornet (ESP) – Salomon Santiveri – 3h30’41”

2. Marco De Gasperi (ITA) – Scott – 3h31’42”

3. Luis Alberto Hernando (ESP) – adidas – 3h36’14”

4. Nicola Golinelli (ITA) – Arc’teryx – 3h43’02”

5. Erik-Dagssøn Haugsnes (NOR) – Il Pioner – 3h47’59”

 

Women

1. Stevie Kremer (USA) – Salomon Agisko – 4h03’16”
2. Emelie Forsberg (SWE) – 4h25’10”
3. Celine Lafaye (FRA) – Scott – 4h35’00”
4. Silvia Serafini (ITA) – Salomon Agisko – 4h37’57”
5. Ragna Debats (NED) – FEEC – 4h44’10”

 

Sky Series provisional ranking

Men

1. Kilian Jornet – 200 points
2. Luis Alberto Hernando – 176 points
3. Marco De Gasperi – 88 points

 

Women

1. Emelie Forsberg – 188 points
2. Stevie Kremer – 178 points
3. Silvia Serafini, Celine Lafaye – 138 points