Western States 100 2026: Bouillard and Lichter Shatter Course Records

# Western States 100 2026: Bouillard and Lichter Rewrite the Record Books

There are mornings in the Sierra Nevada that feel made for records. Saturday, June 28 was that morning — cool air rolling off the Tahoe ridgelines, temperatures in the mid-40s as 380 runners crossed the Olympic Valley start corral before 5 a.m., headlamps carving the pre-dawn darkness above Palisades Tahoe ski resort.

By the time the sun had climbed high above the American River canyons, two of ultrarunning's most storied records had ceased to exist.

Vincent Bouillard Dismantles Walmsley's Standard

France's Vincent Bouillard crossed the Placer High School track in Auburn at 6:46:15 p.m., 13 hours, 46 minutes, and 15 seconds after the gun. He had just shattered Jim Walmsley's legendary 2019 course record of 14:09:23 by 23 minutes and 8 seconds — a margin that would have seemed impossible to any observer of the sport as recently as last year.

The early stages gave few clues about what was coming. Bouillard ran conservatively through the opening Escarpment climb, cresting Emigrant Pass at 8,750 feet alongside a pack of sub-14-hour hopefuls that included Italy's Francesco Puppi and American Ryan Montgomery. Through Robinson Flat at mile 30, the splits looked fast but not alarming. At Foresthill — the race's emotional midpoint at mile 62 — the Frenchman arrived looking measured, controlled, almost eerily calm.

Then came the canyons.

Bouillard shifted gears at Devil's Thumb, moving through Deadwood and El Dorado Creek with a ferocity that began to stretch the lead. By Green Gate at mile 80 he was running alone in a different race from everyone behind him, eating up the final riverside miles with the efficiency of someone who had trained these exact movements for years — because he had. The American River singletrack at dusk, the No Hands Bridge lit by the setting sun, the final climb up Robie Point: Bouillard ran through each landmark with something approaching inevitability.

“I have run many mountains," Bouillard said at the finish, through a translator. "But the Western States trail is something else. You must respect her in the first half so she lets you fly in the second.”

It was, by any measure, the greatest men's performance in the race's 48-year history.

Behind him, the carnage was also historic — but of the best possible kind. Puppi crossed in 13:51:08, becoming the second-fastest man in Western States history in just his first 100-mile race start. American Ryan Montgomery came home third in 13:53:55. For the first time in the event's history, the entire men's podium finished under 14 hours.

Bouillard becomes the seventh person — and fourth man — to win both the UTMB and Western States 100. He is also the first Frenchman and fifth European to hold the Western States title.

Lichter's 100-Mile Debut for the Ages

If the men's race rewrote the record books, the women's race tore them up entirely.

Jenn Lichter, a 31-year-old American trail runner from Colorado, had never run a 100-mile race before Saturday. She had made her name on the 50K and 100K circuit with a series of dominant performances that attracted quiet speculation about what she might do over the full distance. Now everyone has their answer.

Lichter was aggressive from the gun, leading the pack over the Escarpment and setting a pace that made veterans nervous. "I thought she'd blow up at the canyons," admitted second-place finisher Ella Green, a veteran of five previous Western States finishes. "She never did."

Through Dusty Corners, Michigan Bluff, Foresthill — Lichter owned every checkpoint. She crossed the American River at Rucky Chucky with daylight still in the sky and purpose in her stride. She arrived in Auburn in 15:28:05, clipping Courtney Dauwalter's seemingly immortal women's course record of 15:29:33 — set in 2023 — by just 88 seconds.

The crowd at the track erupted. Lichter slowed to a walk inside the final 50 meters, arms raised, taking in the moment with the disbelief of someone who has just run 100 miles and also broken a course record and also done it for the first time.

“I ran the race I believed in," she said afterward, barefoot on the grass. "I didn't try to run Courtney's race. I ran mine.”

Cool weather — temperatures peaked near 78°F in the canyons, well below the brutal heat that has defined previous editions — undoubtedly played a role. But cool-weather editions of Western States are not rare. Running sub-14 hours still is.

What Saturday proved is that the sport has a generation of elite talent ready to push the boundaries of what's possible at the century mark. The records may stand for a decade, or they may fall next year. That is the nature of this brutal, beautiful sport.

What Comes Next

The 2026 Hardrock 100 in Silverton, Colorado opens on July 11 — the sport's next major high-altitude test. Watch for Montgomery and Puppi to face off again, and for Lichter to decide whether she's ready to tackle the most vertical race on the calendar.

---

Want to run the Western States trail yourself? Read our complete Western States 100 course guide for everything you need to plan the attempt.