Looking for a recommendation for a new GPS watch? You could do worse than taking a tip from Kílian Jornet, one of the most accomplished mountain athletes on the planet. The world champion mountain runner and ski mountaineer recently signed with Coros Wearables as one of the brand’s pro athlete ambassadors, which means he’ll not only be wearing a Coros GPS watch, he’ll help develop future models as well.
Jornet’s partner Emilie Forsberg, also a renowned mountain athlete, will join the brand’s ambassador program as well. The partnership came about when Coros co-founder Lewis Wu messaged Jornet and floated the idea of working together. The two met up in Norway, where Jornet lives, to hash things out while hiking up and skiing down a 1,000-meter peak (where Jornet does his morning laps).
“When considering athlete partnerships, my typical way of connecting with the athlete is to go out and participate in their sport alongside them,” Wu said in a statement. “I had to drag my ski equipment with me on a lengthy business trip through multiple European cities, just for a few hours’ adventure with Kílian. It was worth it.”
Both Jornet and Forsberg have selected the Coros Apex Pro to wear while training and competing, but the partnership will go beyond just supplying watches. During their meeting in Norway, Jornet and Wu discussed training goals and how Jornet stays fit—and it became clear that Jornet, who coaches himself, has plenty of valuable insight to offer Coros. He offered to share his adjusted pace formula, for example, and outlined other ideas he had for developing Coros’s product line.
Of course, Coros currently makes some impressive GPS watches, and the Apex Pro is an obvious choice for Jornet and Forsberg. Its titanium frame makes it ultralight and strong, it offers 40 hours of battery life while using GPS (essential for extended adventures in the backcountry), and it’s equipped with in-depth analytics like blood oxygen monitoring for unparalleled insight into your performance. It also comes with several sport-specific modes, including Ski Touring and Trail Running, that are ideally suited to the kinds of events Jornet and Forsberg train and compete in.
“The fact that the best mountain athlete in the world chose the Apex Pro means that our purpose-driven philosophy is working,” Wu said.
The watches will definitely come in handy; Jornet and Forsberg are eyeing some major goals in 2022. Forsberg is diving back into full-time training after two pregnancies, and she’s aiming to reclaim her status as a world-champion athlete this year.
“The watches are amazing, the technology is spot-on, and to have a team like Coros on my way back to racing is amazing,” she said in a statement. “It’s a great tool and I am super excited.”
For his part, Jornet is looking to make a splash in some marquee competitions. This year, he’ll compete in the Ultra Trail du Mont-Blanc, a race he has won three times previously, as well as the Hardrock 100 (where he’s a four-time champ) and the Sierre-Zinal (which he has won nine times—including the last five races in a row).
In partnering with Coros, Jornet and Forsberg will join an impressive roster of elite athletes that includes Eliud Kipchoge (who broke the two-hour barrier for running a marathon distance), climber Tommy Caldwell, and pro runners Emma Bates and Molly Seidel.
“I always want COROS to be a part of these amazing stories, where athletes push the boundaries of human performance,” Wu said. “We don’t want Coros to be purely a commercial sponsor, rather we strive for the brand to truly add value to the athletes’ training.”
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