It’s another year, and once again, the 2024 Western States 100 is likely to be one of the most competitive men’s ultrarunning fields on U.S. soil this year.
The point-to-point course from Olympic Valley to Auburn, California, will see runners cover just over 100 miles with 18,000 feet of climbing and a bit more descending on this net downhill course.
Relatively fast conditions and a super strong field saw the 2023 race equal the 2019 race’s mark for the most runners under 16 hours, with 10 such runners. Despite another strong field that sees seven of last year’s top-10 men, as well as course record holder Jim Walmsley returning, there’s no guarantee that the strong field will produce equally fast times. As always, the potential of a “hot year” looms, with the possibility of turning a track meet into a march of attrition for those at the front of the pack.
Jim Walmsley winning the 2021 Western States 100. He returns in 2024 as the men’s favorite. Photo: iRunFar/Alex Potter
Headlining this year’s edition, along with Walmsley, will be two-time runner-up Tyler Green and reigning CCC, Les Templiers, and Transvulcania champion Jon Albon. We also expect Hayden Hawks, who took second in 2022, to feature prominently.
Read on to see who else should be up at the front of this year’s field. We’ll also be updating this article until race day with any last-minute changes.
iRunFar will be there to report firsthand on all the action as it unfolds starting at 5 a.m. U.S. PDT on Saturday, June 29. Stay tuned!
A special thanks to HOKA for making our coverage of the Western States 100 possible!
Thanks also to Fractel for sponsoring our race coverage.
Be sure to also check out our 2024 Western States 100 women’s preview.
Tom Evans and Dakota Jones locked in a duel climbing to Michigan Bluff at the 2023 Western States 100. Jones returns to the 2024 men’s field. Photo: iRunFar/Jaja Ferrer Capili
Returning Top 10
Seven of last year’s top 10 men remain on the entrant list at the moment. Both last year’s champion, Tom Evans, and sixth-place man Mathieu Blanchard declined their invitations to return ahead of last December’s race lottery. Third man Anthony Costales initially accepted his spot but has since withdrawn from the race.
Tyler Green – 2nd, 15:04:09 (2023 post-race interview)
Tyler Green
The top returning runner at this year’s Western States is Tyler Green, who took second last year. Tyler also took second at the race in 2021, while finishing fourth in 2022. No other man has seen consistent success at Western States in the 2020s like Green has. And that success isn’t limited to Western States, as last year he also took third at Transgrancanaria and sixth at UTMB. Green ran well in early May, winning the Tillamook Burn 50 Mile, running 16 minutes faster than his time there in 2021, and taking fourth in the accompanying 50k the following day.
Jia-Sheng Shen (China) – 4th, 15:19:42
While Chinese ultrarunners have seen increasing success globally over recent years, Jia-Sheng Shen’s 15:19 in taking fourth at last year’s Western States may be the best performance by a Chinese ultrarunner on U.S. soil to date. Less known in the U.S., Shen has been winning ultras since at least 2017. In just the past few years, he’s been third at the 2022 Lavaredo Ultra Trail, first at the 2022 Eiger Ultra-Trail 101k, as well as taking fourth, and then second, at the past two CCCs. So far this year, Shen has been fifth at Transgrancanaria and third at Mount Yun 100k.
Daniel Jones (New Zealand) – 5th, 15:22:15
Daniel Jones
New Zealand’s Daniel Jones returns to Western States after finishing fifth in his debut last year. He followed that effort up with a 12th-place finish at UTMB later in the summer. This past February, Jones won the Tarawera 100k, repeating his win from 2023. It appears as though Jones is spending significant time in the U.S. ahead of Western States, as he was second at the Canyons 50k in late April and won the Bryce Canyon 50k in mid May.
Ryan Montgomery – 7th, 15:38:35
While having run a wide variety of events prior to last year, Ryan Montgomery saw the most success in flat and fast races, such as running 12:59 at the Brazos Bend 100 Mile in 2019, taking fourth at the 2020 Bandera 100k, and running 13:33 at the 2021 Javelina 100 Mile. Then, he finished seventh with a 15:38 at last year’s fast, but decidedly not flat, Western States. Since then, Montgomery took third at the 2023 Javelina 100 Mile in 12:59 and second at the Quad Rock 50 Mile last month. Montgomery identifies as non-binary, and competes in the men’s category.
Jeff Colt – 8th, 15:42:09
Jeff Colt
In 2022, Jeff Colt ran 16:51 to finish 11th at Western States. Last year, he cut more than an hour off his time by running 15:42 and gaining an entry into this year’s event by finishing eighth. That improvement wasn’t all that surprising given that between those two races, Colt took 14th at the 2022 Trail World Championships — Long Trail in Thailand and won the 2023 Bandera 100k. While he had a relatively rough go at UTMB last summer, he won the Sean O’Brien 50k this January.
Cole Watson – 9th, 15:54:36
Cole Watson was another runner who upped his game between the past two Western States, improving from 14th man in 17:56 to ninth man in 15:54 in 2022 and 2023, respectively. In between, he was fourth at the 2023 Black Canyon 100k and first at the 2023 Canyons 100k. Later last year, he took 14th at the 53-kilometer OCC. So far this year, Watson finished well back in the field at February’s Black Canyon 100k before winning the Rattlesnake Dick 50k in late March and taking third at the Canyons 50k in late April, about five minutes behind second-place Daniel Jones.
Janosch Kowalczyk (Germany) – 10th, 16:09:19
Janosch Kowalczyk
In February 2023, Janosch Kowalczyk ran his way into last year’s Western States by taking third at the Black Canyon 100k. Then, in late June, he ran his way back into the event for 2024 by finishing as the 10th man. That success was no surprise, as in recent years, the German has taken sixth at the 2021 CCC and won the 2022 Mozart 100k. Earlier this year, Kowalczyk showed he should once again be in the mix, having won the Istria 100k in April.
The top 10 men at the 2023 Western States 100. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
More Top Contenders
Jim Walmsley
Barring some shocking news, Jim Walmsley should return to the Western States starting line as the favorite to take home his fourth win at Western States after taking the past two years off from the race to focus on UTMB. That shift in focus led to him taking fourth at UTMB in 2022 before winning in course record time in 2023. Walmsley’s history at Western States is well known. After a few stumbles in his first two aggressive attempts at the race in 2016 and 2017, he won in a then-course record time of 14:30 in 2018 before setting the standard again with his bonkers 14:09 win in 2019. He came back again in 2021 to win comfortably in 14:46. That gives Walmsley three of the five fastest times ever run at Western States in his three most recent runs. No one else in this year’s race has broken 15 hours on the course. Walmsley’s been quiet on the racing front since winning the Nice Côte d’Azur 100k late last September.
Jon Albon (U.K., living in Norway) has been crushing ultras for at least a decade now and is showing no signs of slowing down. Whether it’s a super technical course or a burner, Albon has a chance to win any race he enters. Over just the past two years, he’s been second at CCC in 2022 and won it last year, won Les Templiers last year, not for the first time, and won Transvulcania this year. That said, this will be a step into the unknown for Albon, as I don’t see any evidence of him having attempted a 100 miler, and it doesn’t look like he’s been in a pure running race longer than 11 hours. Still, that lack of experience at the distance needn’t keep him off the podium.
Hayden Hawks
After moving up from eighth in 2021 to take second at Western States in 2022, Hayden Hawks dropped out of last year’s race with an injury. That was no barrier to Hawks returning to this year’s Western States as he set a course record at February’s Black Canyon 100k. Other than that, Hawks has been quietly strong the past few years, also taking second at the 2023 Tarawera 100k and first at the 2023 Canyons 50k.
Dakota Jones has had an up-and-down past two years, with a win at Transvulcania and a third at CCC last year, along with a 17th-place finish at Western States last June and another 17th-place finish at Transvulcania this May. But looking back just a hair further suggests there’s no reason Jones shouldn’t be in the mix at the front of the field at any 100 miler, as he was third at the 2022 Hardrock 100 and won the 2022 Javelina 100 Mile in less than 13 hours.
Petter Engdahl
A Swede living in Norway, Petter Engdahl ran his way into Western States with a third-place finish at the Canyons 100k in April. He likely had his best season so far in 2022 when he won the Innsbruck Alpine Marathon, Zermatt Marathon, CCC, and Transvulcania. Interestingly, Engdahl has DNFed his two longest races to date, failing to finish both Madeira Island Ultra-Trail 115k and UTMB last year. Maybe this will be the race in which he finds success beyond 100k.
Rod Farvard is on a definite uptrend at Western States. He DNFed in 2021, was 41st man in 2022, and was 11th man in 2023, missing the coveted tenth place and an automatic entry back into this year’s Western States by all of seven minutes. Fortunately for him, he ran arguably his best ultramarathon to date in April, when he won the Canyons 100k, besting third-place Petter Engdahl by 11 minutes.
China’s Ji Duo has primarily raced within Asia and, indeed, mostly in China. That means less direct competition amongst those he’ll face at Western States or even the means of comparing times on shared courses. That said, he did finish 14th at last year’s UTMB in his European debut. Since early last year, he’s also won the Ultra-Trail Ninghai 105k, been third at the 2023 TransJeju 100k, won the 2023 Doi Inthanon 100 Mile ahead of third-place Robert Hajnal, and won the 2024 Mount Yun 100k ahead of third-place Jia-Sheng Shen.
It’s a bit hard to place Jonathan Rea in this preview as he’s not run up to his potential in two goes at Western States, finishing 16th and then 14th among the men the past two years. One could then look at his Javelina 100 Mile results, a second to Dakota Jones in 13:05 in 2022 and a win in 2023 in 12:43 and think maybe he’s a flat and fast specialist. But that’s not the case, as evidenced by his fourth place at last year’s CCC behind three men he’ll see again at this race, Jon Albon, Jia-Sheng Shen, and Dakota Jones. Looking further back in 2022, he won races as disparate as the Bandera 100k and Quad Rock 50 Mile. Maybe the third time’s the charm for Rea at Western States!
I’ll admit I’m just learning about Blake Slattengren as I write this preview … and, dang, what an ascendance! Since jumping into ultras just three years ago, he was sixth at the 2022 Chuckanut 50k, second at the 2023 Gorge Waterfalls 100k, and second at the 2023 Javelina 100 Mile, running a 12:58 in his 100-mile debut. Hot damn!
Robert Hajnal
For me, it’s easy to think of Romania’s Robert Hajnal as standing out during the heyday of the Ultra-Trail World Tour in the late 2010s, a time which included him taking second at UTMB in 2018 and fourth at Madeira Island Ultra-Trail in 2019, but he’s still running strong. In just the past two years, he was seventh and then second at Lavaredo Ultra Trail, as well as ninth at UTMB in 2022.
Mexico’s Jupiter Carera hasn’t raced much abroad, but he did take second behind Hayden Hawks at this February’s Black Canyon 100k. Carera looks to have only taken up ultrarunning a few years ago and only has one other 100k on his resume, a win of the small Ultramaratón de los Cañones in 2022. Timewise, his longest race to date appears to have been an 11:18 40th-place at last year’s Trail World Championships — Long Trail in Austria.
Chris Myers has been speedy since jumping into ultras in his early twenties around five years ago, running a 3:31 at Way Too Cool 50k in 2020 and dropping that to 3:21 in 2022. However, it was just last year that he made the leap up to 100ks, finishing fourth at the Bandera 100k in 8:37. He continued rolling along last year, taking third at the Way Too Cool 50k, fifth at the Lake Sonoma 50 Mile, 11th at the Broken Arrow Skyrace 46k, and third at the Mammoth Trailfest 50k. He kicked things off this year by running his way into Western States by taking third at the Black Canyon 100k in February before winning the Gorge Waterfalls 50k in April.
Caleb Olson ran his way into this year’s Western States by winning last autumn’s Grindstone 100k. Since then, he was second at Ultra-Trail Cape Town 100k in November and second at the Madeira Island Ultra-Trail 85k this April. Looking a bit further back to 2022, he was ninth at both the Canyons 100k and Speedgoat 50k, while finishing 13th at CCC.
Hayden Hawks during the 2022 Western States 100. He went on to finish second that year and returns for the 2024 race. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Still More Fast Men to Watch
- Caleb Bowen – 2nd 2023 Grindstone 100k; 3rd 2023 Gorge Waterfalls 100k
- Nick Coury – 5th 2022 Javelina 100 Mile; 8th 2022 Hardrock 100; 173 miles at 2021 Desert Soltice 24 Hour
- Guo-Min Deng (China) – 1st 2024 Mount Fuji 100 Mile; 8th 2023 KAT100k; 20th 2022 UTMB
- Simon Gosselin (France) – 2nd 2023 Nice Côte d’Azur 100k; 4th 2022 Les Templiers
- Paul Jacobs – 4th 2023 Grindstone 100k; 1st 2022 Massanutten 100 Mile (2nd fastest time in race history); 10th 2021 JFK 50 Mile
- Harvey Lewis – 1st 2023 Big Dog’s Backyard Ultra; 12 Badwater 135 Mile finishes, including wins in 2021 and 2014
- Drew Mueller – 5th 2023 Quebec Mega Trail; 1st 2023 Superior Spring 50k; 18th 2023 Chuckanut 50k
Previously Entered, But No Longer Running
Call for Comments
- What are your predictions for the top spots?
- Who else could be in the hunt for the men’s top 10?
Tyler Green opening up his stride coming into Foresthill at over halfway into the 2023 Western States 100. He would go on to take second, and is returning for 2024. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
