The unstoppable and invincible Kilian Jornet (Salomon) wins the The Rut 50K in Montana, USA and with it, takes the 2014 Skyrunner® Ultra Series title. The weekend’s events included the Lone Peak Vertical Kilometer® which he also won. Short or long, if it’s technical he’ll eat it up.

For Emelie Forsberg it was not such a breeze, pushed hard by Salomon team mates Kasie Enman, 2^nd and Anna Frost, 3^rd all the way.  After her 2^nd places at Ultraks and Kima she wanted it badly. She need not have worried. The Rut was hers together with the Ultra Series Champion title.

6h32’42” was her time. Kasie closed in 6h38’05” and Anna in 6h49’25”. Canadian Ellie Greenwood was 4^th and American Hilary Allen, 5^th. Series leader, Italian Alessandra Carlini, took 8^th.

In the men’s race, as predicted, Sage Canaday (Hoka One One) led the flatter, more runnable first half of the course and was overtaken by Kilian just before 30 km. Struggling with the technical second half favoured by Kilian, he closed second in 5h20’27”. Kilian finished a fast 5h09’33”. Manuel Merillas (Mammut), a new young talent from Spain leading the Series, climbed from 4^th position at 30 km to finish third in 5h29’20”. Britain’s Tom Owens (Salomon) was an excellent 4^th and American Paul Hamilton (The North Face) last year’s race winner, took 5^th.

The Rut is the first Ultra Series final to be held in the USA and was designed and organised by world-class ultra runners Mike Foote and Mike Wolfe specifically to fit skyrunning parameters. The Rut 50K counts 6,080m vertical metres ascent and descent with the highest point reaching the 3,403m summit of Lone Peak in Montana’s aptly named Big Sky resort.

The summit was also the destination of Friday’s Lone Peak Vertical Kilometer® - 1,000m vertical climb and just under 4.6 km long, Mike Foote briefed the runners pre-race: “This is a true mountain course so please treat it with the respect it deserves!”

Kilian powered up the rocky ascent to close in 46’12”, closely followed by Rickey Gatesjust 10” behind and Japan’s Toru Miyahara, 3^rd in 50’28”. Vertical Series leader, Italian Nadir Maguet was a disappointed 6^th, with Andorrans Ferran Teixido, 4^th and Oscar Casal 5^th.

In the ladies’ race it was Italy’s Stephanie Jimenez who summited first in 1h02’13”, followed by Americans Michela Adrian, 1h06’03” and Nicole Hunt, 1h06’27”.

The Lone Peak Vertical Kilometer® is the fourth race in the five-race Series which concludes in October in Italy’s Limone sul Garda together with the Sky Series final.

The Skyrunner® World Series awards US $ 25,000 as a final prize to the top three men and women of each Series: Vertical, Sky and Ultra.

The two events also featured in the Skyrunner® US Series which follows the same formula and will conclude in Flagstaff, Arizona in October.

Skyrunner® Ultra Series final results

Men

1. Kilian Jornet (Salomon) – 308 points

2. Sage Canaday (Hoka One One) – 284 points

3. Manuel Merillas (Mammut) – 250 points

Women

1. Emelie Forsberg (Salomon) – 308 points

2^nd equal: Anna Frost (Salomon) Kasie Enman (Salomon) – 294 points

Skyrunner® Vertical Series ranking

Skyrunner® Ultra Series ranking

Skyrunner® US Series

Skyrunner® World Series

Skyrunner® World Series scoring

The three best results in each Series are scored. Ranking points in the final races of all three Series will be increased by 20%. Ranking points breakdown: 100-88-78-72-68-66-64-62-60-58-56-54-52-50 down to 2 points to 40^th position for men and 15^th position for women.

Thanks to iRunFar for live race coverage.

Race website: The Rut 50K

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