With the 2024 Western States 100 upon us, it’s time to try the ladies who we expect will problem for the entrance finish of the sphere!
This point-to-point 100.2-mile race, with 18,000 toes of climbing and 22,000 toes of descending, is at all times hotly contested, and since warmth practically at all times performs an element on race day, we imply this each figuratively and actually.
In contrast to final 12 months, the place an enormous winter left snow lingering on the primary 25 miles of the course, runners will most definitely face extra regular circumstances this 12 months. The panorama adjustments brought on by the wildfires of 2022 will nonetheless be current, and runners will once more must cope with far much less tree cowl over the center miles of the course. If the warmth turns up for race day, we are able to anticipate this lack of shade to issue into the end result, as runners will undoubtedly wrestle to remain cool.
Final 12 months’s ladies’s race was one for the ages, with each Courtney Dauwalter and Katie Schide coming in beneath Ellie Greenwood’s 2012 course document of 16:47. Dauwalter got here away with the win in a time of 15:29:33 whereas Schide completed in 16:43:45. Whereas Dauwalter is staying residence this 12 months, and Schide’s operating has solely gotten higher, so she’s our odds-on favourite for the win.
It wasn’t simply the highest two that went quick final 12 months. Eszter Csillag ran a time of 17:07, which is the fourth quickest time ever, to take third. Katie Asmuth positioned fourth in 17:21, and fifth-place Emily Hawgood completed in 17:26, which might have gained the ladies’s race most different years. With three of those prime 5 from 2023 returning, we are able to anticipate fireworks on the entrance of the race. And this trio is joined by many different race veterans and rookies trying to go quick.
Learn on to study extra of the highest runners. We’ll even be updating this text via race day with any last-minute adjustments.
You’ll be able to belief the iRunFar staff to be there reporting on the race and the way it all performs out beginning at 5 a.m. U.S. PDT on Saturday, June 29. Keep tuned!
A particular because of HOKA for making our protection of the Western States 100 attainable!
Thanks additionally to Fractel for sponsoring our race protection.
Remember to additionally take a look at our 2024 Western States 100 males’s preview, which publishes tomorrow.
Katie Schide after taking second on the 2023 Western States 100. She is a robust favourite for the win in 2024. Photograph: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
Returning High 10 Ladies
Six ladies from final 12 months’s prime 10 are slated to return in 2024. Notably lacking is final 12 months’s winner and course-record holder, Courtney Dauwalter. Additionally absent are fourth place Katie Asmuth, sixth place Taylor Nowlin, and tenth place Meghan Morgan.
Katie Schide (U.S., dwelling in France) – 2nd, 16:43:45 (2023 post-race interview)
Katie Schide
There are only a few situations the place breaking a course document gained’t internet you the win in an occasion, however that’s precisely what occurred to Katie Schide final 12 months when each she and Dauwalter went beneath Greenwood’s document time. One can solely think about the motivation Schide has coming into this 12 months. Winner of the 2022 UTMB and the 2023 Diagonale des Fous 100 Mile, she’s off to a quick begin in 2024 with a win on the Canyons 100k.
Eszter Csillag (Hungary, dwelling in Hong Kong) – third, 17:07:55 (2023 post-race interview)
Eszter Csillag
Ending third in her first try at Western States in 2023, Eszter Csillag brings again her course information in an try to problem for the highest spot. The Hungarian dwelling in Hong Kong made her presence identified to the ultrarunning world after a standout 12 months in 2022, ending fifth at UTMB, fourth on the Path World Championships – Lengthy Path, and fifth at Transgrancanaria. In 2023, she additionally gained the Translantau 100k.
Emily Hawgood (Zimbabwe, dwelling in U.S.) – fifth, 17:26:22
Emily Hawgood
After two fifth-place finishes in 2022 and 2023, Emily Hawgood is undoubtedly trying to climb her method larger within the ending order. Initially from Zimbabwe, Hawgood has been dwelling within the U.S. and constantly inserting close to the entrance of extremely aggressive ultras, together with taking sixth and tenth at UTMB in 2022 and 2021, respectively, and second on the CCC in 2023. She began off this 12 months quick with a win on the Chianti Extremely Path 45 Mile.
Ida Nilsson (Sweden, dwelling in Norway) – seventh, 17:43:34
Ida Nilsson
A presence within the ultrarunning world since 2015, Ida Nilsson returned to the ultrarunning scene with pressure in 2022 with her second place on the Path World Championships – Lengthy Path. In 2023, she was fifth on the Black Canyon 100k and gained the Canyons 100k earlier than ending seventh at Western States and later successful the Ultravasan 90k. It was a powerful 12 months, to make sure. She’s seemingly taken a unique strategy to 2024 by racing much less, beginning the 12 months off with a second-place end at Transvulcania.
Priscilla Forgie (Canada) – eighth, 17:46:34
Priscilla Forgie comes again this 12 months trying to enhance on her eighth place from 2023. The Canadian had an enormous 2023, as she additionally completed second on the Canyons 100k and twelfth at CCC. Beforehand, Forgie gained the 2021 Canadian Loss of life Race, the 2022 Squamish 50 Mile, and the 2022 Extremely-Path Harricana 122k all north of the border.
Leah Yingling – ninth, 17:49:00
Leah Yingling
Operating inside the highest 10 at Western States in 2023, Leah Yingling continues to point out her skill to run on the entrance of ultrarunning fields. She had a breakthrough 12 months in 2022, together with taking sixth at Western States, third on the Bandera 100k, third on the Transgrancanaria Superior 65k, second on the Canyons 100k, and nineteenth on the Path World Championships – Lengthy Path. In 2023, she additionally positioned eighth at UTMB. Final month, she gained the Quad Rock 50 Mile and earlier than that in March 2024, she ran some 400 miles on the lululemon Additional six-day occasion.
Zoë Rom and Leah Yingling (proper) early within the 2022 Western States 100. Yingling returns for a 3rd 12 months in a row in 2024. Photograph: Tony DiPasquale
Extra High Contenders
Fu-Zhao Xiang
On paper, plainly Fu-Zhao Xiang from China will most definitely characteristic on the entrance of the race in some unspecified time in the future. She is a four-time finisher of UTMB, the place she positioned fourth in 2023. She additionally gained the Translantau 140k in 2023. Xiang excels in lengthy mountainous ultras, and solely time will inform how the warmth and runability of the Western States course deal with her. It appears that evidently since her win at Translantau final 12 months, she’s targeted on velocity at shorter occasions and got here away with wins at three 50k or shorter occasions over the course of two weekends in mid-April. It’s value noting that Xiang has raced within the space earlier than, as she took fourth on the Damaged Arrow Skyrace 46k final June.
Norway’s Yngvild Kaspersen earned her entry into Western States by successful the 2023 CCC. Since successful the Zegama Marathon and ending second at Les Templiers in 2016, she’s constantly run on the entrance of the sphere of medium-to-long ultras. She’s proven her expertise in every thing from vertical kilometers to 100k distances. Extra just lately, she positioned second at Transvulcania in 2022 and seventh within the 2023 Black Canyon 100k. Once more, it’s unknown how this mountain specialist will deal with the warmth, the comparatively flatter terrain, and the 100-mile distance.
Ragna Debats
Ragna Debats, from The Netherlands and dwelling in Spain, has an ultra-racing resume relationship again a decade, and he or she’s by no means been removed from the entrance of any subject. She earned her Golden Ticket entry with a second-place end on the Javelina 100 Mile in 2023. In 2021, she positioned third at Western States and set a brand new ladies’s masters course document with a time of 17:41:13. In 2019, she gained the Marathon des Sables, so she is aware of how to deal with the warmth, and in 2022, she gained each the Istria 100 Mile and Transgrancanaria.
An American dwelling in France, who has based mostly most of her top-level operating exterior of the U.S., Emily Schmitz is somebody we’re actually wanting ahead to seeing race Western States. Her credentials in mountain ultrarunning certainly make her a heavy favourite for a top-10 end, however she stays a wild card in that we expect that is her first 100 miler. Amongst her prime performances over time have been a fifth place on the 2023 CCC and seventh on the 2023 Path World Championships – Lengthy Path. In 2022, she took fourth on the Extremely Pirineu 100k. A few of these races have ranged to 14 hours lengthy, so she’s received all of the time-on-feet expertise wanted for a primary 100 miler.
Coming from a triathlon background, gravel bike racer and ultrarunner Heather Jackson may very well be a pressure to cope with. Whereas she DNFed her first try at Western States final 12 months, she had gained the Canyons 50k and positioned second at Black Canyon 100k earlier that 12 months. She additionally gained the Javelina 100 Mile in October of 2023. With seven Ironman triathlon wins to her identify earlier than retiring from the game in 2022, she now splits her time between racing her gravel bike and ultrarunning. We’ll must see how she implements any classes she realized from her 2023 try to enhance her efficiency this 12 months.
Lin Chen
So far as we are able to inform, Lin Chen from China has solely raced exterior of her residence nation twice, as soon as when she positioned second on the 2023 Trans Jeju 100k in South Korea after which once more when she gained the 2023 Doi Inthanon 100 Mile in Thailand, incomes her Golden Ticket entry to Western States. Her leads to China are spectacular — not often does she place exterior of the highest 5 in occasions starting from 20k to over 100 miles. She gained the Anta Hong Kong 100k this January.
Rachel Drake is on a steep ascendency within the sport, however this will probably be her debut 100 miler, so solely time will inform how she’ll fare with the longer distance. Earlier in 2024, she gained the Black Canyon 100k, incomes her Golden Ticket, and the Tillamook Burn 50 Mile. Final 12 months, she positioned sixth at OCC and fourth on the Kodiak 50k. In 2021, she gained the Black Canyon 60k.
Kaci Lickteig
One ought to by no means depend out Kaci Lickteig, a nine-time Western States finisher and winner in 2016. After ending third in 2019, she’s struggled to refind the shape that had her on the very prime of the race, ending tenth, 18th, and twelfth in 2021, 2022, and 2023 respectively. However that doesn’t imply her type is gone, a reality demonstrated by her win on the 2023 IMTUF 100 Mile.
Ragna Debats on her technique to inserting third and setting a masters document on the 2021 Western States 100. She’ll contend on the 2024 race version. Photograph: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
Nonetheless Extra Quick Ladies to Watch
- Kellie Angel (née Emmerson) (Australia) – 2nd 2023 Lavaredo Extremely Path 80k; seventeenth 2023 CCC; nineteenth 2019 UTMB
- Careth Arnold – 4th 2024 Canyons 100k; sixth 2023 Black Canyon 60k; third 2022 Bandera 100k
- Lotti Brinks – 1st 2023 Grindstone 100k; 1st 2024 & 2nd 2023 Gorge Waterfalls 100k; 1st 2022 Javelina 100k
- Eleanor Davis (U.Ok.) – 1st 2023 Good Côte d’Azur 100k; 2nd 2023 Eiger Extremely Path 50k; eighth 2022 OCC; eighth 2022 Path World Championships – Brief Path
- Anna Li (China) – 2nd 2023 Doi Inthanon 100 Mile; 1st 2024 Mount Yun 100k
- Anna Louden – third 2024 Canyons 100k; 1st 2023 Javelina 100k; 4th 2023 Black Canyon 100k; seventh 2022 IAU 100k World Championships
- Sally McRae – eleventh 2016, seventh 2015, & tenth 2014 Western States 100; 1st 2023 Moab 240 Mile
- Jo Meek (U.Ok.) – 4th 2022 Mozart 100k; twenty first 2021 UTMB; fifth 2020 Black Canyon 100k
- Lauren Puretz – third 2024 & seventh 2022 Black Canyon 100k; 4th 2023 & eighth 2022 Javelina 100 Mile; fifth 2021 Bandera 100k
- Giulia Vinco (Italy) – third 2023 Good Côte d’Azur 100k; third 2023 Transgrancanaria Superior 85k; thirteenth 2021 Lavaredo Extremely Path; thirteenth 2019 UTMB
- Madeline Wighardt (Canada) – third 2023 Leadville 100 Mile; ninth 2023 & eleventh 2021 JFK 50 Mile; 2nd 2022 Quebec Mega Path
- Becca Windell – 2nd 2024 Black Canyon 100k; 1st 2021 Bear 100 Mile; fifth 2021 Canyons 100k
Ruth Croft and Emily Hawgood (proper) run stride for stride at mile 30 at Robinson Flat of the 2022 Western States 100. Hawgood returns to the 2024 version. Photograph: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Beforehand Entered, However No Longer Operating
- Marjo Liikanen (Finland)
- Devon Yanko
Name for Feedback
- Who do you suppose will attain the Placerville Excessive Faculty observe first? Race rookie or veteran?
- Is anybody going to get near course-record time?
- Did we overlook another ladies you suppose will run close to the entrance?
