Salomon Phantasm 24 pre race breakdown
Friday November 27, 10:30 AM CET the starting gun will go off at Måndalen Stadium. Six runners will race against the clock for 24 hours straight on a 400 meter track surrounded by some of the world’s most dramatic fjords and mountains. Every second will be filmed, streamed, and broadcasted to the world in what might be a legendary event.
Apart from being a race, this is a PR stunt created by Salomon to promote a new shoe called Phantasm. According to Salomon and the people creating a hype around the event Kilian will attempt to break the 24 hour world record set by the Greek ultrarunning legend Yiannis Kouros in 1997 where he managed to run 303.506km(!).
This project is similar to Nike’s Breaking 2 project where Eliud Kipchoge was the athlete, Vaporfly was the shoe and the goal was to break two hours on the marathon distance. Or like Hoka’s Project Carbon X where Jim Walmsley was the athlete, Carbon X was the shoe and the objective was to set a new world record on the 50 mile distance.
Since Kilian has never done a track race or a 24 hour race before he’s pretty humble going in to the event. He seems to look at this as biological experiment with his body rather than a race or world record attempt. If he breaks the record he’s probably the one he surprises the most.
Here’s a quote from his lates instagram post:
For me it’s an unknown terrain. If I tell you some predictions I will be lying because I really don’t have a clue. I’ve never ran a race on a track and the longest distance I’ve trained on flat are 90km, so I will enter the run without any pretense, trying to find a comfortable pace and when I explode, try to keep up decently. At the end the goal is to explore a completely new terrain and effort for me to learn as much as I can.
The athletes
All lights seem to be on Kilian Jornet on Friday. Since he’s arguably the best endurance athlete of our generation — possibly this century I don’t blame them. Since you’re reading this I’ll assume you know who he is and that you might agree on this statement. But what’s missing in the hype leading up to the event is the story behind the five other runners. Who are they? Can they give Kilian a fight?
Didrik Hermansen
Standout achievements:
- 2nd place Western States Endurance Run 100 miles, 2016
- Norwegian 100km record holder (6:45:43 from 2016)
- 1st place Transgrancanaria 125km, 2016
Didrik is arguably one of Norway’s best and most accomplished ultrarunners of all time. He has done multiple 100 mile races the last decade, but never completed a 24 hour race. Last time he did a 24 hour race he DNF’ed after 16 hours due to stomach issues. (Sidenote: Can you DNF a 24 hour event?)
In 2019 he was out with a hip/groin injury, but managed to get healthy leading in to the 2020 season. Because of COVID-19 he hasn’t done any races, but prioritised training. In fact, some say he’s never been in this good shape, so it’ll be exciting to see what he can do on the track tomorrow.
Sebastian Conrad Håkonsen
Instagram bio: “90kg overweighted Runner and Spartan athlete”.
Coming from obstacle course racing and triathlon Sebastian is a wildcard in this event. He recently won the 12 hour backyard race Sandefjord Backyard Ultra. Combined with his OCR skills and ultra endurance he’s also got an impressive 2:26 marathon PR. In 2019 he placed 2nd in the Oslotrippelen event, which is a combination of a marathon, half marathon and 10km at the Oslo Marathon event. His total time of the 73.3km event was 04:34:41. Watch out for this guy. He’s fast, he’s hungry, and he seems to enjoy to hurt.
Jo Inge Norum
Jo Inge lives and trains in the city of Hell. Yes, there’s actually a place called Hell in Norway. This is also where he did his last major event, setting a new Norwegian record on the 100 mile distance at the “24 hours in Hell” event in 13:33:49. As you can tell by the name of the event this was a 24 hour event. After running 100 miles he called it quits due to kidney issues caused by our friend rhabdomyolysis.
Jo Inge seems to be on a Norwegian record breaking streak. Earlier this year he won the gruelling Last Man Standing — Østmarka Backyard Ultra event, setting a new Norwegian record covering 281,4 km in 42 hours.
Can he cover the same distance in 24 hours? If he did he would have the Norwegian 24 hour record as well.
Harald Bjerke
With no major wins Harald is (on paper) the weakest link in this holy hexagon of runners. But in fact he’s more experienced than Kilian when it comes to 24 hour events. This year he’s done two of them, but none of them on a track like he’ll face in Måndalen.
Coming in to this event as the least accomplished runner he’s got nothing to prove. Athletes who have nothing to prove and everything to win are normally the ones who do, so keep an eye on this one.
“If he didn’t have to stop and puke as much as he did he would have beat me” — Simen Holvik about Harald Bjerke
Harald came 2nd, finishing three minutes behind Simen Holvik in the 100 mile road race Oslofjorden Rundt earlier this year. Simen reported that “If he didn’t have to stop and puke as much as he did he would have beat me”
Simen Holvik
Simen seemingly came out of nowhere in 2019 when he managed to run 253km in the Gloucester 24 hour track race. This was the best time for a nordic runner in 2019 — only 4,6km behind the Norwegian record set by Bjørn Tore Taranger (257,6km) in 2015.
In 2020 Simen continued with his record- and win streak by winning the Aravaipa Strong Virtual Race 80km in 05:40:40. He later won the 24 Hours in Hell race in completing 253,254km. With this effort he’s the 6th best 24 hour runner in 2020 so far and the best one in the Nordic countries.
Simen reported to the NEDA podcast yesterday (two days before the Phantasm24 event) that he’s got his eyes on the Norwegian record and would like to run at least 260km, breaking it with 2.3km.
Simen is planning to listen to music during the record attempt. The plan is to hit “play” after he’s been running for 12 hours. In his playlist he has included music from artists such as the Norwegian death metal bands Burzum, Hjelvik and Darkthrone. He also plans to listen to some Modern Talking, Erlend Ropstad, Nirvana, Tom Waits and William S. Burroughs.
Records, pace and splits
To put things in perspective let’s look at the pace and lap times the runners will have to endure.
World record (303.506km / 188.590 miles)
Set by: Yiannis Kouros in 1997
Split time (400m): 1:53.87
Minutes per kilometer: 4:45
Minutes per mile: 7:38
Nordic Record (266.515km / 165 604.7 miles)
Set by: Johan Steene in 2017
Split time (400m): 2:09.67
Minutes per kilometer: 5:24
Minutes per mile: 8:42
Norwegian Record (257.6km / 160 miles)
Set by: Bjørn Tore Taranger in 2015
Split time (400m): 2:14.16
Minutes per kilometer: 5:41
Minutes per mile: 9:09
Call for comments
Who do you think will win? Will Kilian beat the world record? Will he finish? Will anyone beat the Norwegian or the Nordic record? If anyone will beat Kilian, who will it be?
Resources:
- Norwegian records: https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultral%C3%B8p
- Split calculator: http://www.grun1.com/utils/splitsCalc.html
