It stood for six years, and many thought it unbeatable, but this morning while most of Silverton slept, Kilian Jornet smashed the record, in a time of 22:41:35.
When 24-year-old Kyle Skaggs ran a 23:23 in 2008, no one knew he’d set a bar that would prove unreachable for some of the most accomplished ultrarunners of the decade.
Hal Koerner ran a mostly shirtless 24:50, at the time the third fastest run of the notoriously brutal course. Sebastien Chaigneau ran a 24:24 on the arguably more difficult backwards course (the route alternates directions every year). But Jornet was able to pull ahead from the leaders and add a new record to his growing list聽on the same course that Skaggs ran his sub 24 time.
“It feels good to sit down,” and the small crowd who’d gathered near the Silverton high school as soon as their Twitter feeds alerted them to his finish. But when asked about his future 100 mile plans, he told gathered reporters, “Hardrock was the last race on the list.”