Kilian Jornet announces he's leaving Salomon..

Salomon design was frustrated at the misdirection by Kilian to not invest in carbon fiber with the first Phantasm as Kilian said it would be a fad and didn't provide a performance benefit and would never translate to trails. Tons of R&D costs sunken into the original Phantasm which absolutely bombed at retail, much like Kilian's launch of the product with a sub-par 10km road race performance in the shoes. Salomon had to eat their losses and quickly iterate a carbon plate version for Phantasm CF. Basically Salomon lost over 18-24 months to HOKA, Nike, adidas, etc.

Is anyone talking about this void and how Jim Walmsley (USA) will become an even bigger star? Every race will want his appearance. That kid's market value just sky rocketed again.

Stanely wrote:

Salomon design was frustrated at the misdirection by Kilian to not invest in carbon fiber with the first Phantasm as Kilian said it would be a fad and didn't provide a performance benefit and would never translate to trails. Tons of R&D costs sunken into the original Phantasm which absolutely bombed at retail, much like Kilian's launch of the product with a sub-par 10km road race performance in the shoes. Salomon had to eat their losses and quickly iterate a carbon plate version for Phantasm CF. Basically Salomon lost over 18-24 months to HOKA, Nike, adidas, etc.

Is anyone talking about this void and how Jim Walmsley (USA) will become an even bigger star? Every race will want his appearance. That kid's market value just sky rocketed again.

Most people would not know who Jim Walmsley is. Kilian has 1.3 million followers on Instagram

Walmsley has 146000.

Oh, I say. wrote:

Salomon is probably pushing him out after he got dusted by those children, local club runners and multi-chicked when he tried to run a 10K road race in some little Norwegian village.

Just for everyones interest, some of the people that beat Kilian and he called "local club runners" and children is :

Zerei Kbrom Mezngi (27:39 10km, only Julien Wanders is better in Europe through all times)

Narve Gilje Nordås (Olympic 5000m competitor)

Bjørnar Lillefosse (28:23.46 10 000m)

Magnus Myhre (13:38.69 5000m)

Isaac TESFAMICHAEL (28:59 10km)

Filip Ingebrigtsen (needs no introduction)

If these are local club runners then I don't know what to say.

Running a flat 10km at 29:59 when extremely respectable runners run it in 28:20 isn't anything to be ashamed about, lol.

Stanely wrote:

and would never translate to trails.

So far seems he was right about that. And when has any of their road shoes not had a sub par launch? Its Kilians fault they cant sell road shoes? Give me a break.

As for Jim, yes I think it is interesting because I've had this feeling ever since Jim paced Francois that he might move over to Salomon. But my guess his Hoka deal is pretty lucrative and Hoka seems to put a lot of their $ into sponsorships compared to others. Still I am of the opinion Jim would be able to improve his times even further without those clunky soft foam bricks.

Oh, also worth mentioning regarding the Phantasm, it was extremely unavailable even at launch. Took well into this year for them to be consistently available at least in the US.

hmmm....... wrote:

Oh, I say. wrote:

October 18, 2020 at Hytteplanmila. 17 local club runners and children finished in front of KJ in his humiliating debut at road racing.

With a result like this it almost seems like he isn't a road runner....

With a result like this it almost seems like he isn't a decent distance runner, and that his claims of 14 flat 5K repeats are a little dubious. With his self-claimed world class training and self-claimed stratospheric VO2 you'd think that knocking off club runners, children and women at any distance race on any surface would be just a warmup for KJ, not an epic struggle to failure.

He was running injured during that 10k race. Let him be fit and fresh and give him a pair of Vaporflys and he's easily sub 29 and probably sub 28.

Oh, I say. wrote:

With a result like this it almost seems like he isn't a decent distance runner, and that his claims of 14 flat 5K repeats are a little dubious. With his self-claimed world class training and self-claimed stratospheric VO2 you'd think that knocking off club runners, children and women at any distance race on any surface would be just a warmup for KJ, not an epic struggle to failure.

Why do you call the following runners club runners?

Zerei Kbrom Mezngi (27:39 10km, only Julien Wanders is better in Europe through all times)

Narve Gilje Nordås (Olympic 5000m competitor)

Bjørnar Lillefosse (28:23.46 10 000m)

Magnus Myhre (13:38.69 5000m)

Isaac TESFAMICHAEL (28:59 10km)

Filip Ingebrigtsen (needs no introduction)

Maybe this criticism would have some weight if it was the only race he's ever done. A little bit moronic (having trouble coming up with any other word for this at the moment) to scrutinize a single result so deeply considering the mountain of incredible results to his name. But sure, those 'dont matter' because they werent road races, right? Because all world class distance runners nail every race, every time, right?

Still waiting for that elite road runner to easily destroy any of Kilians records with a few months of training.

NORman12 wrote:

Oh, I say. wrote:

With a result like this it almost seems like he isn't a decent distance runner, and that his claims of 14 flat 5K repeats are a little dubious. With his self-claimed world class training and self-claimed stratospheric VO2 you'd think that knocking off club runners, children and women at any distance race on any surface would be just a warmup for KJ, not an epic struggle to failure.

Why do you call the following runners club runners?

Zerei Kbrom Mezngi (27:39 10km, only Julien Wanders is better in Europe through all times)

Narve Gilje Nordås (Olympic 5000m competitor)

Bjørnar Lillefosse (28:23.46 10 000m)

Magnus Myhre (13:38.69 5000m)

Isaac TESFAMICHAEL (28:59 10km)

Filip Ingebrigtsen (needs no introduction)

I'll concede that those are more elite than club, but there were 11 other club runners and children who easily beat KJ in a distance race when he was admittedly giving his best effort after training hard for this race.

Kilian absolutely destroyed Jakob Ingebrigtsen in that race. Was it Jakob's best race? No, of course not. Was it Kilian's best race? No, of course not.

stravaKOM wrote:

Kilian still have things to prove, like winning pikes peak against Seth James Demoor, or winning Western States vs Jim Walmsley

I kind of doubt Kilian really gives a shlt about some noddy American trail race up a hill and back.

Oh, I say. wrote:

NORman12 wrote:

Why do you call the following runners club runners?

Zerei Kbrom Mezngi (27:39 10km, only Julien Wanders is better in Europe through all times)

Narve Gilje Nordås (Olympic 5000m competitor)

Bjørnar Lillefosse (28:23.46 10 000m)

Magnus Myhre (13:38.69 5000m)

Isaac TESFAMICHAEL (28:59 10km)

Filip Ingebrigtsen (needs no introduction)

I'll concede that those are more elite than club, but there were 11 other club runners and children who easily beat KJ in a distance race when he was admittedly giving his best effort after training hard for this race.

The only person under 20 years old beating Kilian was 17 year old Abdullahi Dahir Rabi who has a 13:49.88 5000m. The worst timed runner who beat Kilian participated in european champs for U23 this year, and has a 13:58.55 5000m.

No children or club runners to be seen.

NORman12 wrote:

Oh, I say. wrote:

I'll concede that those are more elite than club, but there were 11 other club runners and children who easily beat KJ in a distance race when he was admittedly giving his best effort after training hard for this race.

The only person under 20 years old beating Kilian was 17 year old Abdullahi Dahir Rabi

No children or club runners to be seen.

17 year old child plus the following club level runners:

Thomas Fremo

Simen Halle Haugen

Jonatan Vedvik

Trond Ørjan Eide

Simon Steinshamn

Even Brøndbo Dahl

Eivind Øygard

Halfdan-Emil Færø

Mathias Flak

“I feel good. I hope for around 28:30. We shall see…”.

“It’s a fun experience to race with so many runners but I am not used to having other people so close and I found it hard to have so many people faster than me, especially in the early stages.”

"I ran 29:42 in training straight after a VK, so I felt was realistic that I could achieve 28:30 or faster. As the race unfolded, the front of the race left me behind."

“I am a little disappointed for that. It was very interesting, very different to when you go training, you can keep a steady pace. Here it was fast at the beginning and I am not used to so many people and being so close. It’s difficult to understand my place. The first km was fine as it is downhill. It was a great experience and it motivates me to have another try…!”

“When I run a VK the effort is typically 30-minutes but this is different. In terms of cardio, for me it was very easy all the time. It’s the legs, you need to keep the speed. It’s very different, I don't have the speed that I do in training. The first 4 to 5km with more people was a challenge as you are almost centimeters from the other runners. I just need to be in front of the crowd but there were so many much faster than me at the start and they got away and I could never catch back up.”

--Going into the race, we had hoped to see a Jakob-Jornet showdown. We didn’t really expect Jornet to keep up with the young Norwegian, but it would have been fun to see how one of the world’s best ultrarunners fared against one of the top track athletes. Last year, Jakob set the Norwegian 10K record at the Hytteplanmila with a 27:54, but he obviously didn’t make a push to challenge that this time around.

Instead, Jakob paced Filip (who is fresh off a win at the Norwegian cross-country championships) for 7K 19:53 before jogging to the finish.--

*sigh*

Simen Halle Haugen has a team gold from european xc juniors, a 13.37 5000m and a 29.06 10k. What about you stop calling people club level runners you absolute moron.

LarsL9 wrote:

*sigh*

Simen Halle Haugen has a team gold from european xc juniors, a 13.37 5000m and a 29.06 10k. What about you stop calling people club level runners you absolute moron.

Mathias Flak has participated in European junior championship 5000m and has a 13:58.55 5000m not a club runner either. How long do I have to continue for you to comprehend it? Do you feel better by calling others club runners?

The pikes peak record is something he definitely wants but it is unlikely. 1) it’s becoming obvious that it’s an outlier and people are questioning it’s standing. It comes too soon after sierre zinal so it’s like doing back to back marathons in 2 weeks with travel in the middle. I think he could get it if he had the form of 2019 and skipped SZ. But he’s creating a legacy at SZ that will be impossible to beat (course record and most wins). He probably gets a handsome appearance fee at the world’s most competitive trail race. He is ultra competitive there so if he shows up it’s to win.

I also think he will go back and reclaim his Zegama cr after Stan took it. That’s his favourite race along with SZ. So I don’t think we’ve seen the end of competitive Kilian yet. He is still young to get back into ultras and probably wants another utmb or two under his belt.

Absolutely agree. Killian has already won the Ultimate in Sierre Zinal and Mt. Blanc. Pikes Peak is easy! Killian has nothing to prove. I've run them events and Killian's records are impeccable! "Zip Zip" go the body bags! 🙌

LarsL9 wrote:

LarsL9 wrote:

*sigh*

Simen Halle Haugen has a team gold from european xc juniors, a 13.37 5000m and a 29.06 10k. What about you stop calling people club level runners you absolute moron.

Mathias Flak has participated in European junior championship 5000m and has a 13:58.55 5000m not a club runner either. How long do I have to continue for you to comprehend it? Do you feel better by calling others club runners?

Everyone who has slower PBs than the hack that I am is a club runner. Some clubs are better than others, but the intellectual club that you are in is as dismal as KJs results in that 10K. He claims world class training and focus, but produces a time that would be lucky to make the Newbury Park High School varsity or the Ethiopian women's team. He has championship ambitions and turkey trot credentials in a certified distance race.