Kilian Jornet is the new king of Strava

Move over cyclists, Spanish trail running legend Kilian Jornet has become the new king of Strava, receiving over 120,000 kudos on his 2022 Ultra-Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB) upload.

Jornet won his fourth UTMB title (11 years after his third) in spectacular fashion after leading for most of the race. Jornet battled adversity during the middle stages, only to be inspired by Canada’s Mathieu Blanchard with 30 kilometres left.

The 34-year-old finished the 170-kilometre ultramarathon in a course record time of 19:49:30, becoming the first athlete to run under 20 hours on the full UTMB course. The previous course record was held by France’s Francois D’Haene, who ran 20:11:44 when he won his second UTMB title in 2014.

If you are unfamiliar with kudos on Strava, they are virtual thumbs up and comparable to “likes” on Facebook or retweets on Twitter. After posting the activity on Sunday, the post sits at a whopping 120,500 kudos and is still rising. Jornet succeeded cyclist and multiple Tour de France champion Chris Froome, who received 50,000-plus kudos for a stage ride on the Tour de France.

American marathoner Molly Seidel received a record number of kudos after her bronze-medal-winning run at the Tokyo Olympic marathon. She holds the Queen of Strava title with almost 40,000 kudos.

Beside winning almost all of the major ultramarathons, Jornet also has an impressive mountaineering background, with multiple FKTs in the Alps and other speed ascents during his Summits of My Life book project.