Kouros was unbelievable, as in actually not believable. There is almost no drug testing even today with ultra runners. Throwing shade at Jornet seems a bit rich.

I wish my trances let me crank out 450 watts on the bike and run like that.

From LetsRun site:

Before the race, Kouros threw shade on Jornet’s attempt. Kouros views the new shoe technology as a form of mechanical doping, and according to Canadian Running he wrote on Facebook,
“What a pity! to hear that there are athletes who considered as well known, but they seek short-cut ways and they try to innovate unfair methods in order to cheat! An easy way by short-cuts is always the unfair and the anti athletic way that equals to cheating …… !!!!!!”
In the end, Kouros had nothing to worry about as Jornet dropped out after covering 134.8 km (83.76 miles) in a little less than 11 hours. Today, Jornet posted messages on both Instagram and Twitter explaining he felt some chest pains, got dizzy, and spent the night in the hospital.

Thanks for posting that. Its what I was referring to.

This ^^^

Yes, Kilian already shown he can work with extreme weather : Everest !!!

But clearly extreme weather is NOT the right environment to succeed in an attempt to beat a difficult record established in GOOD CONDITIONs.....

Anyone attempted hour record with a parachute behind the bike ??

Norway end of november....largely sub zero Celsius... sound like a desperate attempt to do something (stupid) for a shoe launch date...

This. I have been a bit doubtful of many performances, including from KJ. But Kouros'? I don't believe that for one single second.

Jornet is fucking amazing, no matter the circumstances, but aren't his Everest records doubted by other serious ultra runners?

and yet kouros was wrong for implying Jornet was show doping. his shoes have no carbon plate, and are 20mm

GPS nitpickers claim he was about 100 meters shy of Everest summit when he turned around.

And this is just a small part of what made Kouros the best. He had the ability to set world records in poor or even hostile conditions.

Running through storms and winds up to 40 mph from Hurricane Gloria to set a world record in New York 24 Hour in 1985. Or setting 6 Day records at Colac in the Australian summer.

I don't doubt Kouros or his performances.

It's easy (and lazy) to look at how "other worldly" his performances are and draw an immediate inference of "drug cheat". But I don't think it matches with Kouros' beginnings and history as an athlete, or with the changes we have seen in doping over the decades.

As an uncouched, largely unknown amateur marathoner from small town Tripoli in the Peloponnese, he arrived unheralded but "perfectly formed" at the 1983 Spartathlon. As the runner soon to be the world's greatest, Kouros was simply brilliant from that sunrise on the Acropolis. The next 21 hours and 53 minutes foreshadowed his entire career. While astounding, all that came after was indeed possible or perhaps even likely. At least for Yiannis.

The subsequent consistency of his performances and patterns of improvement over comparable events through his career don't raise suspicions (to me) of an athlete that commenced taking EPO (the biggest game changer and most obvious choice for drug cheats in endurance sports) when it became available in the '90s.

As for Kouros' comments about Jornet, they don't surprise. At times, Kouros has been described as ungracious, particularly toward those he felt didn't offer due respect to his talent or performances. I can understand Kouros viewing Jornet's run and in particular Salomon's promotional hype as an attempt on his record as less than respectful. I just write off the comments as Kouros being Kouros. He was often considered a handful by race directors. Those comments are just a blip on the radar.

To be fair, I have zero evidence Kouros doped. I just don’t believe it though. Why? Because of the history of sports and because each time someone dominated outrageously it proved to be fake.
Maybe I’m wrong. I admit it’s just that I’m really cynical about sports performance.

why's a record attempt disrespectful? i didn't follow it super closely, but nothing i saw seemed disrespectful. in fact, mostly the opposite - the material i saw was full of references to how tough the record is and how monumental it is in running. and as for "kouros being kouros," i think this is a case of someone getting a free pass for acting badly. he was being a jerk and apparently calling out kilian for 'shoe doping,' when kilian was doing nothing of the sort. i think it's fair to ask yiannis to be gracious, or at least civil.

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As I said, "in particular Salomon's promotional hype as an attempt on his record as less than respectful".



I could imagine Kouros seeing this as Solomon (and Suunto) using his reputation as a marketing strategy to sell shoes or watches, rather than a valid attempt on the record, particularly given the timing and likely conditions of the event.

The hype surrounding the run was never about how well could Jornet run a 24, it was always about whether he could beat Kouros' record. Even Killian said he would be running to Kouros' splits.

As you note, you read lots about Kouros in the lead up to promote this. I'm sure Kouros didn't receive a cent out of this, but his name, reputation and record were all used as the selling point.

Maybe Kouros would have seen the attempt as more serious or respectful if Jornet wasn't an "outsider" and had some comparable track or road performances under his belt, other than a recent debut road 10km which left him injured and a 6 hour/84km track training run which was touted as indicative that the record "may be possible". By comparison, that run was 3km short of what Kouros ran as split in the opening hours of a 48 Hour race in France, over a decade before he finally cracked 300km for the 24.

Yes, it's a far cry from some random chick touting she's going to do 50 Ironman in 50 days, but even Zac Bitter expressed doubts about the wisdom of trying to crack this on the first attempt.

I'm not being an apologist for anything Kouros has said, this week or in the past, let alone endorsing the accuracy of his statements in relation to Jornet's footwear. All I'm saying is given the more than a few controversial things that Kouros has said or done over the years, I just find it easy to roll my eyes and shrug my shoulders on this occasion. Not a free pass, just unsurprising.

While I'm not suggesting that drug testing at ultra events (particularly trail races) is as widespread as many other endurance sports, the US trail running scene isn't necessarily reflective of the sport globally.

The IAU has conducted testing at the World Champs for decades. Maria Bak received a two year ban after a positive test at the 1997 100km Worlds in the Netherlands. Kouros has competed at both the IAU Worlds many times, at both 24 Hour and 100km. I'm also reasonably certain the European championship events conduct testing.

Additionally, athletes competing at the IAU championship events are required to registered with their national body, which is usually affiliated with their country's national athletic association. This consequently brings these athletes under the same random testing programs as other registered elite athletes.

The Comrades Marathon has had several runner disqualifications for doping violations over the years.

Perhaps most pertinent, the Sydney to Melbourne Ultramarathon (approx 1000km) was another race which conducting testing. Kouros dominated the race five times between 1985 and 1990, including in 1989 when Graeme Woods was DQ'ed following a positive test for ephedrine from cold & flu medication supplied by a crew member.

Kouros would likely have been subject to more testing throughout his career than many would imagine.

Kouros clarified that his earlier comments were misunderstood. He was not talking about the shoes but about the fact that Salomon scheduled a custom event, controlling as many parameters as possible to suit Kilian, as opposed to a race scheduled in advance and opened to any racer. Those points seem valid to me, although in times of pandemic, a levelling playing field as he describes is less realistic.

https://www.scmp.com/...jornets-fair-play-24

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