Unforgettable Western States Wrap Up

ft. Abby Hall, Caleb Olson and an A-to-Z of Winners

US men & women take the W :- official 2025 results available at this Ultra Live link

Caleb Olson Deserved the Win

At 7:11 on a sun baked Saturday evening, 29-year-old Caleb Olson broke the tape at the 2025 Western States 100 mile race. His winning time of 14 hours and 11 minutes is the second-fastest time ever. Only two minutes behind Jim Walmsley’s 14:09 set in 2019. One year earlier, Caleb ran the fastest ever debut at Western States in a time of 14:40. This year, he shaved almost half an hour off his 2024 time. Scroll down for a list of the all-time fastest finishing times.

Caleb’s win deserves our attention. Pre-race he wasn’t one of the hyped up hot-shots. Several of them crashed and burned along the 100 mile route between Olympic Valley and Auburn, California. Donning a unique, heat defying Nike ACG running tee, Caleb’s garbs and stunning performance grabbed the trail running headlines.

Looking back at Caleb’s last 12-months his life changing victory wasn’t a shock. He followed up his crazy Western States debut with a dominant performance to win the 2025 Transgrancanaria 120k race in a course record time in February. He’s also been selected to represent Team USA in the 2025 World Mountain & Trail Championships, where his team mates will include Jim Walmsely, Hayden Hawkes, Adam Peterman and Tyler Green. What is surprising about Caleb is that he has been able to adapt to the runnable terrain of Western States from the rough, mountain terrain he prefers.

Abby’s ‘Dream Come True’

On Saturday, female race winner Abby Hall also put on a masterclass of 100-mile running. Like Caleb, Abby wasn’t a hot favourite to take the win or even finish in the top-10 at States. But, like her performance on Saturday, Abby’s journey to the start line was one of gritty perseverance. Abby has described her win as “A Dream Come True”.

Abby’s previous Western States performance in 2021 did not set the world on fire. Then in 2023 Abby turned up at Western States on crutches determined to support her team made, British star Tom Evans, on to victory. After a couple of year’s overcoming a career-threatening injury Abby raced herself into contention. In hindsight you can see how Abby was inspired to dream.

In a Golden Ticket qualifying race in early 2025 Abby wasn’t having her best day but she pushed on to pass several runners in the closing stages, coming home in 5th. Little did she know that her end of race push would translate into entry into her dream race. Initially, the push fell short of a Golden Ticket entry into Western States. However, when one of the Golden Ticket winners, EmKay Sullivan, announced she was pregnant, a window of opportunity opened for Abby. And boy, did she take it.

Abby held form early on in the race, eventually opening a few minutes gap on a chasing pack that included Ida Nilsson, Riley Brady, Martyna Mlynarczyk, Eszter Csillag, Marianne Hogan and Tara Dower. Eventually carnage took hold, with six elite females dropping from the race. This left a chasing pack of experienced non-USA 100-mile racers - Fuzhao Xiang, Fi Pascall, Hau Ha, Ida Nilsson, Marianne Hogan, Emily Hawgood and 100-mile debutant Caitlin Fielder - who all finished in the top ten.

Abby dug deep, put in a performance for the ages, extending the gap and crossing the finish line in 16:37, becoming the 4th fastest female of all time. The top-10 was rounded out by Abby’s fellow American’s Hannah Allgood and Keely Henninger.

All top-10 females will be invited back to the 2026 Western States. Other elites will have to qualify via Golden Ticket Races or hope they get in through the lottery.

For a comprehensive recap of the women’s race check out Trail Society's podcast featuring F9 Keely Henninger and Corrine Malcolm and the official Female Results.

2025 Top-10 female finishers receive their prizes, starting right to left from Abby - photo from Abby’s Insta

Men’s Wrap Up

In absence of the Western States GOAT, Jim Walmsley, as well as Hayden Hawkes, Tom Evans and other top elite runners, the men’s race was wide open. There was a good mix of experienced Western States runners and first-timers, many of them from overseas. The winning opportunity was blown even wider when pre-race favourites Rod Farvard and David Roche dropped from the race and Adam Peterman fading to walk home in over 23 hours (Kudos to Adam for finishing the race). In 2024, Rod had been the first man to push Jim Walmsley hard on this course and had said that he would either win or DNF this year. After breakthrough wins in 2024, David was also a hot-tip and someone, like Rod, who was keen to push the pace. David led up the first climb out of Olympic Valley up to the high country and shared the first 50-miles with the lead pack.

Later in the race, Rod and David’s absence left a pack of half a dozen men in with a chance of the W. At around half-way Caleb Olsen, Kilian Jornet and Dan Jones were the stand-out returnees with Chris Myers, Seth Ruling, Hans Troyer and Jeff Mogavero flying the flag for the race debutants.

Despite pre-race hype that the race would highlight a new era of speedy 100 milers, the race played out more like a Western States of old than a Western States of new-era speedsters. There was a bit of attrition - Roche & Farvard, some fades - Peterman & Troyer and some late rallies - Jornet & Montgomery.

While the prospect of 10 or more men challenging Jim’s 2019 time did not materialise, the top-three men did come close to Jim’s record. The top three finishers ran within 8 minutes of each other, with the winner Caleb only two-minutes short of Jim’s 14:09:28. The next three men all put in a fine shift, below 15 hours. Surprisingly, there was then a long break of 55 minutes until the next finisher, Ryan Montgomery crossed the line. The gap between the first and 10th place was over two hours. Hardly an advert for all-round improved performance amongst the elite field.

That said, the races many drops, fades and late rallies, sprinkled with a several stand out and surprise performances provided exciting moments for trail fans. It certainly had us glued to our screens into the early hours of Sunday morning (UK time).

The top-10 finishers live to fight another day, gaining automatic entry into the 2026 race.

An A-to-Z of WINNERS

Abby and Caleb provided the standout stories of 2025. This left the challenge of highlighting all the other WINNERS from the Western States community. As there’s no way of mentioning everyone in this amazing trail family we opted for an A to Z of WINNERS. Please send us other WINNERS we’ve overlooked.

A is for ASIA

Asian trail females were A-class winners with two top ten finishers in China’s Fuzhao Xiang coming 2nd for the 2nd year running and Vietnam’s Hau Ha finishing 6th. Fuzhao’s friendship with her training buddy and WS first-timer Hau Ha was also a win-win. Hau Ha was the first ever finisher from Vietnam. Southeast Asia was also represented by Freetrail athlete, Rini Sugianto, who was Indonesia’s first ever female finisher (Keren! Selamat mbak Rini). The rise of Asian trail running was further highlighted by 10th place Japanese runner Kai Hiroki and USA’s 2nd placed finisher, Chris Myers otherwise known on IG as @halfasianchris. A special mention goes to the race’s final finisher, Tatsuro Aoyama who fought as hard as anyone to cross the line in 29:57:48.

B is for BRAND

Brand diversity was a winner. With brands being a major driver of our sport, it’s good to see the top 12 men’s finishers sponsored by 12 different brands. 10th place Kai Hiroki was an outlier, running without a shoe sponsor. For the brand geeks out their, the other eleven athletes were sponsored by: Nike (Caleb), Brooks (Chris), Nnormal (Kilian), On (Jeff), Adidas Terrex (Dan J.), North Face (Seth), Kanji (Ryan), Altar (Hans), Scarpa (Peter), Dynafit (Hannes), Salomon (Dan G). Overall Terrex were the dominant brand in 2025 with 4 top-ten females (Abby, Hannah, Kaitlin & Emily) and 1 top-ten male (Dan J.). Abby’s victory was no-doubt boosted by the support of her friends and previous States winners, Ruth Croft, Tom Evans, Katie Schide & Yngvild Kasperson. Team Terrex are getting good at winning major trail races.

C is for CHRIS

Chris Myers was the breakout star of the 2025 men’s race. His athletic performance was outstanding, he took risks, rightfully earning him 2nd place and almost passed out at the awards ceremony. What a winner. Chris stated that he will not return to States in 2026, and is now focused on taking 6-weeks off before racing CCC in August. Chris also insisted on donning a snorkel to cross the river, winning our vote for the most ICONIC moment of 2025. For a breakout star to insert playful fun into his race whilst being chased down by the GOAT, Kilian Jornet, twelve hours into the race is truly ICONIC. Special iconic moment mentions go to ‘baguette emojis’ in support of Hans Troyer in the WSER live-stream chat and to Marianne Hogan for not breaking stride whilst throwing up surrounded by all her pacers and crew going through an aid station.

D is for DEBUTANTS

100 mile debutants Caitlin Fielder and Hans Troyer were our standouts. Both finished 8th in their category, leaving time and space to climb up the rankings in years to come.

E is for EXPERIENCE

With the top 3 in both male and female races being returnees to Western States, experienced trumped enthusiasm. Western States tipsters, including ourselves, should listen more closely to experienced tipsters like Andy Jones-Wilkins and Katie Azimuth, who called some decent pre-race shots. A list of experienced who impressed this year were repeat offenders Fuzhao Xiang (2nd again), Kilian Jornet (3rd again), Keely Henninger (9th again), Caleb Olson (1st and top 5 again), Ida Nilsson (4th and top 10 for 3rd consecutive year), Dan Jones (5th and top 5 again), and Chris Myers (2nd and top 10 again) and Emily Hawgood (10th and top 10 for 5th consecutive year).

F is for FLAGSTAFF

State and city rivalries are common in US sport, especially in men’s sport. Trail running has not escaped geographical bragging rights with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona all sharing beef. The Utah crew and Colorado boys have shared the bragging rights with Utah’s Caleb Olson in 1st and Boulder’s Chris Myer’s in 2nd, Flagstaff is the standout location for breeding Western States winners. Flagstaff, with its run-able trails, set at altitude, gets hot and dry in the build up to States. This has proved a choice for past, present (and future) cougar winners winners like Rob Krar, Jim Walmsley, Abby Hall with Abby, Ida, and Eszter all training together in Flagstaff in the run up to this year’s race.

G is for GOLDEN HOUR

The one hour window before the 30-hour race cut off period elapses is called GOLDEN HOUR. For 60 minutes, the finishing track at Placer High School in Auburn is a raucous celebration of human ambition, grit and humility. The crowds at the track swell from around 10am - made up of crews, pacers and pro-athletes (most of whom finished 10-hours earlier) - as the first Golden Hour finishers cross the line surrounded by friends and family. The biggest cheer of the weekend was reserved for the final finisher to duck under 30 hours. This year Golden Hour celebrated many of our A to Z entrants, including Jan Vleck, Rini Sugianto, Russell Gardham and the final finisher Tatsuro Aoyama.

H is for HALL, Abby HALL!

In the words of her team mate, Katie Schide, “Abby is more than just ‘broken leg girl’. Abby has been quietly lifting up those around her for years. Truth is, she already won this race three times through her support of Ruth Croft, TOM EVANS and myself. She cares about her friends with the same all-in determination she applies to racing, and that’s why we love her.” What more is there to say about this year’s winner. Keep going Abby!

I is for INDONESIA

One of our TrailFans co-founders, Scott Cunliffe, was blown away to see Rini Sugianto become the first ever female from Indonesian to finish Western States. Rini is a Freetrail athlete who epitomises the Western States community having crewed and paced other Western States finishers including Indonesia’s first male Western States finisher Dendi Dwitiandi in 2022. Scott, who first discovered trail running whilst living in Indonesia, caught up with Rini to learn about her historic effort. Read all about it here » Trailfans Profile of Rini

J is for JEFF

Jeff Mongavero is a definite winner claiming the title of fastest ever debutant, surpassing Caleb’s 2024 mark by 10 minutes. At one point Jeff was leading Kilian, outpacing him on the downhills. We look forward to seeing Jeff back at States sometime soon.

K is for KILIAN

At 37, Kilian Jornet, did not disappoint. The 2011 winner returned with nothing to prove at Western States, except that he was stronger than when he first ran the race 15-years ago. During this 15-years Kilian’s GOAT status has been earned by winning most of the prestigious mountain races on the planet, shading fastest known times for ascending and descending some of the planet’s highest mountains and taking on endurance challenges that make the rest of us drool in admiration. Kilian turned up with something to prove to himself, he turned up out of curiosity, out of a challenge to race an emerging crop of newcomers. He turned up at States for the third time, in a year when his partner gave birth to their third child. He beat his 2011 time by 75 minutes and yes, he finished third. He also brought joy to hordes of fans who cheered him on, perhaps seeing him run States for the final time. His pacers Anthony Fagundes and Griffin Briley were lucky enough to have a birds-eye view.

L is for LIVESTREAM

Where would us trail fans be without live stream coverage of Western Races? As we noted in our race preview, the trail running revolution is being televised. In Western States week coverage is beamed to your smartphone thanks to an emerging community of media groups including Mountain Outpost, Freetrail, Singletrack, and iRunFar. Add on the hours and hours of athlete and brand created content on You-tube, Instagram and Substack plus the often hilarious (and unfortunately often trashy) livestream comments section US trail running now has an Edutainment eco-system to serve our growing on-line community.

M is for MONTGOMERY

Ryan Montgomery ran on Francesco Puppi’s Golden Ticket. Puppi must be pleased with Ryan’s sub 16 hour effort to take 7th place. That’s more than 2.5 hours faster than Ryan’s 18:34 time set in 2024. Ryan fully deserves an invitation to return in 2026. That’s what we call WINNING. Ryan said:

“I’m proud of this one. I had every reason to play it safe or drop out after a fall and GI issues, but I kept recommitting. That recommitment turned into closing hard, passing several competitors in the final 20 miles, and locking in 7th place. When I get into hunting mode, I execute.”

N is for NUMBERS

Everyone loves a few stats. This year there were 369 starters, 285 finishers, 84 DNFs: - 77% success, 23 % attrition, ouch. 21 aid-stations, hundreds of volunteers, thousands of fans and hours of media consumed!

Female participation was up in 20256: there were 75 female finishers, from 100 starters. That is a 26% slice of the starters pie, which is the highest female representation on record. Woop woop!

O is for OLSON

Caleb OLSON! As with Abby there is little more for us to add to Caleb’s performance. We do recommend you read his own ‘Chasing Trail’ race review on SUBSTACK Here’s a taster of his writing simply titled ‘14:11’:

“This is so different from last year. Exact opposite. Instead of pushing and hunting and feeling strong, I’m crashing and burning and why am I even doing this. Against all odds, Anthony has talked me into running a solid pace up to Green Gate and we’ve maintained a good gap. I snag Jacob as my next pacer, my pit crew works their magic, and I’m back out on slightly shady, gently rolling, perfectly buffed out singletrack. The type of trail I should be able to rip. Instead, just out of view from the aid station, I stop and walk. I tell Jacob I’m going to end up in the hospital after this one.”

P is for PASCALL

Fiona Pascall is our stand-out Western States first-timer of 2025. Freetrail commentator, Corrine Malcolm, described Fi’s final 40 miles of the race as “crazy textbook” leading to a 5th place finish in a time of 17:21:52. With over half the race completed Fi hovered outside of the top-10 steadily picking off runners in the final hours to rise from 12th to 5th. Fi’s first finishing time is 45 minutes faster than when her sister Beth’s debuted at States in 2019. Beth Pascall returned to win at States in 2021, taking the win in 17:10:42. Us Brit’s look forward to Fi’s return to States in the next year or two. 

Q is for QUESTIONS (We have lots). 

Which men will return in 2026? Jim Walmsely, Ron Farvard, Hayden Hawks, David Roche, Adam Peterman and Tom Evans surely fancy another go. Will some of this years top-10 men fancy another go? Will we see emerging 100 mile talent - like Francesco Puppi - on the start list? Will next year’s top-10 all dip below 15 hours? Will someone go sub-14?

Which females will return in 2026? Do Katie Schide and Courtney Daulwalter have anything still to prove? It’s a pretty safe bet that Riley Brady, Martyna Mlynarczyk, Eszter Csillag and Tara Dower do. Will Fuzhao Xiang, Ida Nilsson, Emily Hawgood and Marianne Hogan return to mix it up again? Will this years successful first-timers come back for more? Send your thoughts in the comments!

R is for RUSSELL

Russell Gardham’s Western States story is a winner. Three days before the race Russell was sitting at home, thousands of miles away in Eastbourne, UK. He was next, on the runners waiting list not expecting any more drop outs so close to race day. When a runner got sick 2 days-out Russell received a call up. Within hours he was on the next transatlantic flight. Arriving hours before the start, the 51 year old finished the race during Golden Hour in 29:22:39. Kudos. 

S is for SWAP 

Some Work All Play/SWAP is the athletic coaching team of David and Megan Roche. In our eyes, despite his DNF this year, David and Megan contributed a whole heap to this year’s race. Their scientific experiments, openly shared on their podcast made other athletes think, they tweeted curiosity and upped the game of this year’s race. Two-days out David’s openness on his race prediction of sub-14:15 added further fuel to the fire. Did this ultimately make some of his competitors, and himself, tap out earlier than expected? Maybe it did, but he did it with love and humility so, keys to him. Over the years, SWAPs experimentation with WS100 has with athletes coached by SWAP taking the win (eg. Clare Gallagher) and many others making the top-10. This year was different, with David, Tara Dower and Riley Brady all dropping. Hans ‘The Kid’ Troyer was the last SWAPer standing in the top-10. Sure the only SWAP take-aways will be positives to learn from. They will be back in some way shape or form to influence the future of Western States. 

T is for TWENTY TWENTY SIX 

This years top-10 finishers have the option to return in 2026. Some have already said they will, some have said they won’t. 12-months is a long time. Let’s see who decides to come back to be a first-time or return WINNER. We hope to see some of this year’s newbies returning to California for another crack at winning a Cougar trophy. We’d also like to see experienced runners like Jim, Kilian, Katie, Courtney, Hayden and Tom to take on this year’s newbies. We also hope that this year’s DNFs like David and Rod return. 2026 could be an Unbreakable year!

U is for UNBREAKABLE 

Our female field preview noted an unbreakable family of winners amongst this year’s cohort. We believe this thesis held firm on race day with some remarkable stories of togetherness and competition outshining the sharper rivalries on the men’s side. Yes most of the male positioning is bravado with beef being squashed as competitors share miles during the race but the female field happen to wear their friendships better than the guys do. That said, we loved how the men’s race played out. At once surprising and enthralling. It served well as a prequel to what could be in 2026. We’d be ecstatic to see both a stacked male and female field in 2026, with everyone featuring in the production of a second Unbreakable movie. 

V is for VLECK

Proving that age is but a number, Jan Vleck was the oldest person to finish this years race. With change to spare, 72-year-old Jan completed the 100 mile course during Golden Hour in 29:02:26. Bravo Mr. Vleck, it goes to show that you’re never too old to give it a go. 

W is for WESTERN STATES 

We’d like to give a massive shout out to Craig Thornley, the whole organisation of committee members, media partners, volunteers, supporters and fans who made it out to California to put on such a show for the rest of the world. Kudos!

X is for XIANG

Fuzhao Xiang was impressive. She won admirers for her application, fun attitude and improving her English 100% since last year. Her 2nd place finish was also impressive. She has said she will return in 2026.

Y is for You

If YOU fancy a go at Western States, YOU can start by believing that YOU can do it. It may be a long journey, it will blow hot and cold, it will be rewarding, it will be life affirming.

YOU can do it!

Z is for Zzzzzzzz

Like everyone else who’s invested time, energy and love into the 2025 Western States Endurance Run it’s now time to hit the hay. Rest well y’all. See you at States in 2026.