The Western States 100, a Ultra distance race of 161 Km, which takes place on 25th-26th June in Squaw Valley, USA.
Kilian arrived on Monday to the USA where he has been familiarizing with the high temperatures he is going to face on the day of the race.
“It’s a race that suits me and my training sessions with slopes and technical parts, but the Western States is also a special race, a mythical race, wherefrom ultrarail was born 38 years ago. Anyway, at the start we are all in the same conditions” says Kilian.
Catalan athlete Kilian Jornet has been in the USA since last Monday to start familiarizing with the high temperatures and inspect the grounds he is going to meet in his second endeavor to race the mythical long distance WESTERN STATES 100, a 161 Kilometers race which will start on 25th-26th de June in Squaw Valley to end up in Aubrun.
Kilian alleges he faces the race having been able to train placidly in Chamonix and after having run the first challenge in Kilan’s Quest season in Greece, where he ran in similar hot weather to that he will find this weekend in the WS 100.
Jornet, who took part in the race last year ending it in third position, says that this year “I’m just as optimistic, the difference being that now I know the race and the preparation needed, I have tried to train under the heat and I am going to follow a different hydration strategy: I am going to drink a liter of water every 2 hours, apart from the water given at provisioning, ingest mineral salts often and eat at provisioning” new trainers and t-shirts to combat heat are also going to be ready for Jornet at provisioning.
The Cerdanya athlerte admits “It is not a race which fits my skills, but the WS100 is a mythical race. It’s where Ultratrail was born 38 years ago and you can feel the historical atmosphere while running the Western States, this is why I came back. It’s important to get to know the origins of my sport to understand it better”.
Many outstanding runners will take part in the American race, in this sense, Kilian comments that “The level of the race is very high with runners such as Geoff Roes, Anton Kupricka, Nick Clarck, Hal Koerner, Dave Mackey, David James, Jez Bragg, Ian Sharma, among others”.
The race is starting on Saturday 25th June at 5:00 American time (14.00h in Spain) and it can be followed at the race web site: www.ws100.com