From obesity to competing against Kilian Jornet in four years: the story of Cristofer Clemente

The Canary Islands quickly passed more than 90 kilos to compete with the best in the world of ultra-strength races

At 24 years old, Cristofer Clemente He went to a routine check-up and his family doctor gave him the role that would change his life: Simvastatin, he ordered the recipe, one pill every night and maybe forever. Despite his age, his cholesterol was so and so high that he needed medication and that opened his eyes. Of 1.69 meters high, he weighed more than 90 kilos, so instead of going to the pharmacy for the pills, I decided to go to the park of his town, San Sebastin de La Gomera. As a child, all the sport I did was play FIFA at the Play Station and there came a point where eating so many fried foods and drinking sugary drinks was hurting my health, so I decided to change my diet and start running. He just wanted to lose weight and the first day could not stand 100 meters, but the second day, and so far, Clemente exposes and with now means that he is one of the best in the world in the ultra-distance mountain races, one of the rivals from Kilian Jornet in mystical tests such as Ultra Pirineu or Transvulcania.

The change, in addition, was exaggeratedly fast. In November 2009, the shoes were worn for the first time that day in the park and in May 2013 it was already ninth in the Transvulcania that Jornet himself won. Then will come his victory in the Ultratrail World Cup in 2016 or his two silvers in the World Cup of specialty in 2017 and 2018, along with triumphs and podiums in races between 80 and 120 kilometers such as the Ultra Pirineu or the marathon of Mont Blanc.

At the beginning of 2011 I was already quite thin, so much so that in the town it was rumored that I had cancer, and I decided to join a race: the 18 kilometers of the Meridian marathon. To my surprise I won. Then, a few months later, I saw that a 90 kilometer race, the UTGC, awarded 6,000 euros to the best canary, so I also signed up. And again gan. Ah, I started more seriously, explains Clemente, whose story is already documentary. The runner competes for the Salomon IATI team and the French brand has produced a short film about his life called Another Cristofer that premieres the night of next Thursday 5 on its website and its social networks.

His success is based on work, on a privileged genetics, on the incredible mountains he has to train in La Gomera and on a small coincidence. Clemente runs a family restaurant called La Tasca, and one day he was talking to the customers of his new hobby when one of the regulars, David Alcn, discovered his trade: coach and technical director of the Canarian Federation of Triathlon. He placed himself at his command and continues with him. It helped me a lot to understand how to train in the mountains. In my first race, the Meridian marathon, running on asphalt shoes, I didn't know anything about the trail, exposes the runner who, despite the triumphs, cannot live on it.

In fact, on the day of the race on his island, the 47-kilometer Gomera Paradise, it's always a double turn: in the morning, victory and at noon, serve lunch to the participants who go to his restaurant. Now I receive some income for running, but in Spain I think they can only live from this Kilian, Luis Alberto Hernando, Pau Capell and little else. The rest we do for enjoyment and health, Clemente says, whose medical reviews are now untouched. Cholesterol has already lowered everything that it owes and the scale indicates 60 kilos, about 30 less than ten years ago. With his self from before, in fact, now he does not even identify himself. I see myself in the photographs and I can't find myself. Somehow, I see it as a dark stage of my life. It is a bit annoyed because if I have a vacation or suffer any injury and I take two or three kilos I get nervous and quickly need to do something, even if it is cycling or swimming. I am afraid of falling back into bad habits, Clemente concludes that he is already another man, who already lives another life.