23-year-old Spanish phenom Kilian Jornet did the big double this year, adding a win at The North Face Ultra Trail de Mont Blanc (20:46:43) to match his first place at the Western States 100, arguably the two most competitive 100+ milers in the world. Fellow Spaniard Iker Karrera Aranburu (20:48:30) came in just a few minutes later with Frenchman Sebastien Chaigneau (20:55:51) not far behind. I wonder - is the double enough for Jornet to win UltraRunning Magazine's Ultra Runner of the Year, or will Dave Mackey prevail with his wins at Bandera 100k (CR), American River 50m, Miwok 100k, Where's Waldo 100k (CR), and 8th place sub-17 at States? That's a tough choice!!!
Britain's Lizzie Hawker repeated her 2010 victory by finishing in 25 hours and change, notching her fourth win here. Nerea Martinez from Spain finished second nearly three hours later (27:55:34), with Darcy Africa taking 3rd (28:30:28). Bryon Powell, per usual, did an excellent write-up of both races on iRunFar. He also has interviews with Jornet and Hawker.
North Face did a great video of the race course above.
I bet Usain Bolt wish he had the calm consistency of Jornet, but instead he false-started and disqualified himself from the 100m World Championships (or did he?).Whoops.
Oscar Pistorius, however, managed to be the first amputee to make a World championship semi-finals with his incredible finish in the 400m. Check out how fast he gets going in the straights...amazing!
Britian's Mo Farah and Ethiopia’s Ibrahim Jelian made the most of Bekele dropping out (his first non-win at a world championship ever) to duke it out in the 10,000m, with Jelian outkicking in the last 50 meters for the win (27:13). Lots of great running going on in Daegu!
