Skiing-Spain's Kilian Jornet breaks 24-hour uphill ski record

Ultra runner and ski mountaineer Kilian Jornet, one of the most dominant endurance athletes of his generation, has set a new 24-hour uphill skiing record. The 31-year-old Spaniard, who has won four golds at the Ski Mountaineering World Championships, completed 23,486 metres of elevation last Friday in Molde, Norway.

Based at Tusten Ski Resort, Jornet was joined by friends and local skiers as he achieved a total of 51 climbs over 195 kilometres in 24 hours. Jornet consumed around 6000 calories during the endurance task, which he said was not about achieving any official record but to understand how his body reacted to extreme elevation gain.

"This is not my definition of a 'fun day' but it is great to test yourself to see what you're able to do," Jornet said. "I like to set myself new challenges to test my body, and I wanted to see how many metres of elevation gain I was capable of doing in one day.

"This year I'm not competing in the Ski Mountaineering World Cup, so my training has changed and I'm trying to set myself different challenges and keep up my motivation." (Reporting by Hardik Vyas in Bengaluru Editing by Toby Davis)