Ultrarunner Kilian Jornet has been named the 2014 National Geographic People’s Choice Adventurer of the Year. Jornet, who edged out 12 other Adventurer of the Year candidates, won this honor following a voting period that saw more than 75,000 people cast online ballots.
If you’re a regular reader of my blog, you’ve read my regular reports on Kilian’s exploits. For my money, he is amongst the top endurance athletes in the world today. His ability to scramble up and down a mountain at unbelievable speeds is remarkable, something he demonstrated on two of Europe’s most iconic peaks last year. It took him just five hours to conquer Mont Blanc, and he set a record on the Matterhorn, going up and down that mountain in 2 hours and 52 minutes.
In announcing the winner of this year’s People’s Choice award, National Geographic Adventure’s online editor Mary Anne Potts is quoted as saying: “We believe that Kilian exemplifies the spirit of adventure in the truest sense of the word. He has demonstrated over and over that limits are meant to be pushed, and his growing list of remarkable accomplishments is truly inspiring.” She went on to add “We received a record number of online votes from our fans across the adventure community, and we’re thrilled to call Kilian the National Geographic 2014 People’s Choice Adventurer of the Year.”
I am happy to say that Kilian would have been my choice for Adventurer of the Year as well. His incredible feats in the mountain have been simply amazing. Other than Ueli Steck’s solo summit of Annapurna, I’m hard pressed to think of anyone who has come close to what the Spaniard has accomplished. I’m happy to see him earn this much deserved recognition.
Congratulations to Kilian on this honor.
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Hi Kraig,
Great news about Killian. If you're not familiar with it, Seb Montaz did an absolutely awesome film about Killian last year. It's called "Summits of My Life."
Film is only about $8, direct from Seb. Here's the trailer. https://vimeo.com/42964218
Hi Ric!
Yes indeed, great news for Kilian. Well deserved!
And yep, I've seen "Summits of My Life" and featured the trailer on here sometime back. Great film for sure.