Both Western States 100 course records fell at the 53rd edition on Saturday 27 June 2026, on the 100.2-mile route from Olympic Valley to Placer High School in Auburn, California.
Cool conditions
The 5 a.m. start was 51°F. The unofficial finish-line high in Auburn reached only 74°F, the third-coolest in race history and 16°F below the race average. Most runners wore zipped jackets at the start, and iRunFar credited the weather for the fast times. About 87% of starters finished, a race record.
Men
Vincent Bouillard of France, the 2024 UTMB champion, won in 13:46:15, the first sub-14-hour finish, beating Jim Walmsley’s 2019 record of about 14:09 by roughly 23 minutes. Hans Troyer led alone at Devil’s Thumb (mile 47.8) by about five minutes and was still ahead of Francesco Puppi by 15 seconds at Foresthill (mile 62), with Bouillard about 11 minutes back. Puppi, making his 100-mile debut, led at Rucky Chucky (mile 78), but by mile 85 his advantage was down to 90 seconds. Around Quarry Road (about mile 90), Bouillard passed him and took a two-minute lead for good.
Top 10 men: 1. Bouillard 13:46:15. 2. Puppi 13:51:08. 3. Ryan Montgomery 13:53:55. 4. Thomas Cardin 14:07:58. 5. Zach Miller 14:20:09. 6. Adam Peterman 14:26:11. 7. Jeff Mogavero 14:38:36. 8. Canyon Woodward 14:45:24. 9. Will Murray 15:23:12. 10. Hiroki Kai 15:26:34.
Women
Jenn Lichter of the United States won in 15:28:05 in her 100-mile debut, about 85 seconds under Courtney Dauwalter’s 15:29:33 from 2023. It was her second course record of 2026, after the Black Canyon 100K in February. Lichter took the lead at Devil’s Thumb with almost a five-minute advantage over Riley Brady, led by about four minutes at Michigan Bluff, extended to seven minutes by mile 85.2 and was about a minute ahead of record pace at Robie Point.
Top 10 women: 1. Lichter 15:28:05. 2. Brady 15:42:14. 3. Marianne Hogan 15:51:44. 4. Caitlin Fielder 15:57:09. 5. Lotti Brinks 16:04:38. 6. Tara Dower 16:13:07. 7. Fu-Zhao Xiang 16:25:59. 8. Fiona Pascall 16:32:05. 9. Hậu Hà 16:40:38. 10. Hannah Allgood 16:45:56. Brady, who competes in the women’s race, improved on a 14th place in 2023 and a dropout in 2025.
Golden Tickets in action
Several of the top finishers earned their places through Golden Ticket races, including Thomas Cardin (Chianti 120K) and, from the Canyons 100K in April, Zach Miller and Adam Peterman. It shows how the ticket system feeds the sport’s biggest 100-miler.
Sources
Updated November 14, 2026.
Photo: Frank Kovalchek from USA (CC BY 2.0), via Wikimedia Commons
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