Caleb Olson grew up in the Pacific Northwest and stumbled into cross country in high school because he thought it would help his soccer fitness. He discovered he was better at running, and liked it more. He became an All-ASUN runner at Liberty University in Virginia, moved to Utah at the end of 2017, and signed up for his first 50K just months later. The Wasatch Mountains became his training ground. Throughout his rise in ultrarunning, Olson worked full-time as a software developer. He balanced training with becoming a new father (his wife Morgan gave birth to their son just weeks before his Western States victory) and dealt with recurring GI issues in races until switching his fueling strategy in 2023. His 2025 season put it all together. He won Transgrancanaria in course-record time, then took the Western States 100 in 14:11:25, the second-fastest time in the race's history, less than two minutes off Jim Walmsley's 2019 course record. He was the first Utah-based runner to win Western States, and he did it against what many considered the deepest men's field ever assembled.