2026 WESTERN STATES 100 PREVIEW: WALMSLEY, JORNET, AND A STACKED FIELD

The 53rd running of the Western States 100 starts at 5 a.m. Pacific on Saturday, June 27, sending roughly 370 runners from Olympic Valley to Auburn, California. The point-to-point course climbs 18,000 feet and drops more than 22,000 feet across 100.2 miles, and the elite fields at both ends are among the deepest the race has assembled.

The men's race is missing its 2025 top two. Caleb Olson, who won last year in 14:11, the second-fastest finish in race history, is not returning, and runner-up Chris Myers is also out. That absence opens the door for a field stacked with former champions and 100-mile debutants.

The Men's Favorites

Jim Walmsley sits at the top of most lists. He has won Western States four times, in 2018, 2019, 2021, and 2024, and his 14:09 from 2019 remains the course record. Walmsley missed the 2025 race with injury and has not raced in 2026, relying on a sponsor entry after a lingering knee problem kept him out of the Golden Ticket qualifiers. If the knee holds, he is the favorite.

Kilian Jornet returns 15 years after his 2011 victory. He finished third in 2025 in 14:19, closing hard to reach the podium less than two minutes behind Myers. His 2026 preparation has been disrupted by a knee injury that stopped his running after a 44th-place finish at the Zegama Marathon in May. Jornet has said he will line up with only a couple of weeks of running in his legs.

Adam Peterman, the 2022 champion, is the third former winner in the field. He won the Canyons 100K in April, one of the most competitive Golden Ticket races of the year, beating several Western States contenders in the process. Hayden Hawks brings a runner-up finish from 2022 and a third place from 2024, when he ran 14:24. He took third at Canyons behind Peterman and Zach Miller, who earned his own ticket there and makes his Western States debut after placing second at UTMB in 2023.

More Men to Watch

Francesco Puppi of Italy arrives for his first 100 miler off a 2025 that included a CCC win and a Canyons 100K course record. His buildup has been rough, with a shoulder injury at Black Canyon and a broken wrist in a training fall, but his range makes him a threat. Hans Troyer was eighth in his 100-mile debut last year, then won the JFK 50 Mile and set a course record at Black Canyon 100K in February.

Several returners round out the depth. Jeff Mogavero ran the fastest Western States debut ever with his fourth-place 14:30 in 2025. Daniel Jones of New Zealand has finished no worse than fifth in three appearances. Anthony Costales, third in 2023, and France's Vincent Bouillard, the 2024 UTMB champion who dropped here last year, are both back, along with Golden Ticket winners Thomas Cardin and Will Murray.

For context on how this course rewards aggression and punishes a single mistake, see our account of the wrong turn that cost Jim Walmsley a win.

The Women's Race

The women's field returns nine of last year's top 10, led by defending champion Abby Hall. Her 16:37 in 2025 is the fourth-fastest women's time in race history, run from the front through the entire second half. No woman has won Western States in consecutive years since Ellie Greenwood in 2011 and 2012, and Hall will try to end that streak.

Fu-Zhao Xiang of China has finished second in each of her two starts, running the third-fastest time ever in 2024 and the seventh-fastest in 2025. She tends to start conservatively and close hard. Canada's Marianne Hogan was third in both 2022 and 2025 and has stood on the podium at UTMB twice without yet reaching the top step.

The newcomers may decide the race. Jennifer Lichter makes her 100-mile debut as a possible favorite after winning the Black Canyon 100K in February and pushing the course record under eight hours. Molly Seidel, the 2020 Olympic Marathon bronze medalist, has moved to trails and earned her ticket with a fourth-place finish at Black Canyon, two minutes ahead of Hall.

Women's Contenders

Tara Dower did not finish last year after getting sick, then won the Javelina 100 Mile in a 13:31 course record. She plans to run the Hardrock 100 less than two weeks after Western States. Riley Brady rebounded from a 2025 DNF to win the Canyons 100K, playing to their downhill strength on the same trails. Poland's Martyna Mlynarczyk, the 2025 CCC champion who led last year's race before dropping, returns for another attempt, as does Norway's Yngvild Kaspersen, fifth here in 2024.

The international depth runs deeper still. The U.K.'s Fiona Pascall, fifth in 2025, has won three straight ultras in 2026, and Emily Hawgood of Zimbabwe has placed in the top 10 here for five consecutive years. For a fuller picture of how the race became this stage, read our history of the Western States 100.

Live coverage begins at the Olympic Valley start at 5 a.m. Pacific on June 27, with the leaders expected in Auburn before dawn the next morning.