The 25-year-old Spaniard left the village church at 3pm, reached the top of the 4,478-metre mountain straddling the Swiss-Italian border and returned to the village two hours, 52 minutes and two seconds later, according to media reports.

The wiry Catalonian knocked 22 minutes off the previous record for the fastest ascent and descent of the Matterhorn achieved by Italian Bruno Brunod in 1995.

"I'm more than super happy," Jornet wrote on his Facebook page after returning to Cervinia at 2,050 metres.

By his own reckoning he made the ascent of the Matterhorn in less than two hours — one hour, 56 minutes. 

The feat comes less than two months after Jornet raced up and down the 4,810-metre Mont Blanc, the European Union’s highest peak, in four hours, 57 minutes to set another record.

Jornet bounded up the formidable French mountain on July 11th dressed only in a t-shirt, shorts and running shoes after starting early in the morning from the town of Chamonix, 1,037 metres above sea level.

He was clad similarly for his climb of the Matterhorn, located in the canton of Valais.

A photo on his Facebook page shows him holding on to a cross erected near the summit with two other mountaineers.

To prepare for the bid, Jornet climbed the summit eight times over a two-week period, La Nouvelliste newspaper from Valais reported online.

The climber is scaling celebrated mountains around the world as part of a “Summits of my life” project.

Next on his list of peaks is 5,642-metre Mount Elbrus, the tallest peak in the Russian Caucasus range.

He plans to finish next year by climbing Mount Everest, the world’s highest mountain at 8,848 metres.