The 2025 Western States 100 is quickly approaching and, once again, it’s likely to be the most competitive men’s ultrarunning field on U.S. soil this year. On June 28 and 29, 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 some 22,000 feet of descending on this net downhill course.
Last year, fast conditions and a great field put 12 men, more than ever before, under 16 hours, and 11 runners under 15:18! With 2024 champ and course record holder Jim Walmsley, along with four other men from last year’s top 10, not returning this year, the race would appear to be wide open. Still, three men who ran 14:40 or faster last year — Rod Farvard, Daniel Jones, and Caleb Olson — are returning.
Those returning speedsters will be challenged by 2011 champion Kilian Jornet, who’s undoubtedly still at the top of his game; Adam Peterman, who won States in 2022; David Roche, who set the Leadville 100 Mile course record in his 100-mile debut last August; and Vincent Bouillard, who shocked the ultrarunning world with his win at UTMB last August. Yeah, this race is gonna be a burner!
Rod Farvard finishing the climb to Michigan Bluff in second at last year’s Western States. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
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. Also, here’s the 2025 entrants list.
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 28. Stay tuned!
Thanks so much to Altra for sponsoring our Western States 100 coverage!
Be sure to also check out our 2025 Western States 100 women’s preview, and then follow along with our live coverage on race days.
Returning Top 10 Men
Originally, eight out of last year’s top 10 men accepted their spots back into this year’s race, with the exceptions being Jon Albon, who finished sixth, and Tyler Green, who placed seventh. Unfortunately, last year’s winner, Jim Walmsley; third-place finisher, Hayden Hawks; eighth place, Jia-Sheng Shen; and ninth place, Jonathan Rea, have withdrawn after initially accepting their automatic entries. That means only four of last year’s top 10 men are returning for this year’s race.
Rod Farvard – 2nd, 14:24:15 (2024 post-race interview)
Rod Farvard, the top returning runner from last year’s Western States, has had quite the journey with the race over the previous four years, going from a DNF in 2021 to 58th in 2022 to 11th in 2023 to second last year. Prior to his breakout Western States, he did run at the front of other fields earlier, including fourth places at the Bandera 100k and Canyons 100k in 2022 before a win at last year’s Canyons 100k. Since last June, Farvard has placed 15th at CCC last August and ninth at the Canyons 100k in late April, along with winning the Nine Trails 35 Mile in March.
Daniel Jones – 4th, 14:32:29
New Zealand’s Daniel Jones returns to this year’s Western States with a fifth in 2023 and fourth in 2024. That step up in the rankings went along with running nearly an hour faster, clocking 14:32 in 2024 compared to 15:22 in 2023. Since States last year, Jones has taken fourth at CCC last August and won the Tarawera 100k in February to go along with a slew of wins at shorter trail races.
Daniel Jones being aggressively cooled down by his pacer during the river crossing at last year’s Western States 100. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Caleb Olson – 5th, 14:40:12
Taking fifth at last year’s Western States was likely the top performance of Caleb Olson’s trail running career to that point, as his 14:40 was good enough for the eighth fastest time in race history. Since then, he’s taken 12th at last August’s CCC before winning February’s Transgrancanaria.
Chris Myers – 10th, 15:18:25
Taking 10th at last year’s Western States must be the highlight of Chris Myers’ career to date. However, close up, there would be his fourth at the Bandera 100k in 2023 and third at the Black Canyon 100k in 2024. So far this year, Myers has been third at both the Black Canyon 50k and Lake Sonoma 50 Mile.
The top ten men at the 2024 Western States 100. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
More Top Contenders
The six races in the Golden Ticket Races series sure have added to the competitive depth of this year’s Western States 100. Indeed, with two of last year’s podium finishers not returning, the Golden Ticket entries are particularly compelling in this year’s men’s race. A few additional top contenders got in via other methods, including sponsor spots, race administration spots, and even the lottery.
Where to start here? Yeah, with Spain’s Kilian Jornet. While there are some bona fide champions in this field, Jornet is the best trail ultrarunner of the first quarter of the 21st century, and he remains at the top of the game. On the very day I write these words, he’s just completed a 50-mile training run with near 8,000 feet of climb in 6 hours and 2 minutes. I’ll save Jornet’s full resume, but recently he ran his way into Western States by finishing second to Walmsley at the Chianti Ultra Trail 120k this spring, and last year he won both Sierre-Zinal and the Zegama Marathon. He last raced 100 miles in 2022, when he won both Hardrock and UTMB. It’s been a long time, but Jornet’s twice run Western States. He finished third in 2010 before returning and winning in 2011.
The men’s race features another previous men’s champion in Adam Peterman. When Adam won in 2022, he’d not yet lost an ultramarathon. After continuing that streak in late 2022 with a win at the Trail World Championships – Long Trail, he succumbed to an injury that kept him from finishing another ultra until the spring of 2024. It seems he’s returned to form over the past year, taking third at last year’s CCC, where he earned his Golden Ticket, and winning the Gorge Waterfalls 100k.
Adam Peterman at mile 30 of the 2022 Western States 100, on his way to winning the men’s race. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
After a decade of ultrarunning success, David Roche finally made his first 100-mile attempt in the summer of 2024 and it was a doozy, with him breaking Matt Carpenter’s 19-year-old record at the Leadville 100 Mile with a time of 15:26. Two months later, Roche won the Javelina 100 Mile in 12:45, barely two minutes off Jonathan Rea’s course record set a year earlier. Earlier this year, Roche won the Quad Rock 50 Mile in early May. He’s recently been slowed a bit by a knee injury, which adds a small question mark here.
Speaking of 100-mile breakouts, prior to 2023, France’s Vincent Bouillard had only raced longer than 50k once, a mediocre finish at the 2017 The North Face Endurance Challenge 50 Mile Championships. In the spring of 2023, he won the Gorge Waterfalls 100k, and that autumn, he won the Kodiak 100 Mile in his debut at the distance. Less than a year later, he shocked the ultrarunning world by winning UTMB and doing so in under 20 hours. Bouillard ran his way into this year’s Western States by taking third behind Walmsley and Jornet at the Chianti Ultra Trail 120k in March.
Vincent Bouillard on his way to winning the 2024 UTMB. Photo courtesy of UTMB.
After a 2023 that didn’t seem up to par for him, Germany’s Hannes Namberger certainly bounced back in 2024 when he won the Lavaredo Ultra Trail 120k and took fourth at UTMB. Namberger’s success at Lavaredo is particularly notable as it’s one of the more runnable big mountain ultras in Europe. In addition to his win here in 2024, he won the race in 2021 and 2022. Earlier this year, he also saw success in taking third at the relatively flat and fast Canyons 100k to earn his way into this year’s Western States.
Western States is the 100-mile debut for Slovakia’s Peter Fraňo, who’s seen plenty of success from 70k through 100k the past few years. Some of his highlights include eighth and then third at the Trail World Championships – Long Trail in both 2022 and 2023, seventh and then second at CCC in 2023 and 2024, the latter of which earned him his Western States spot, and a win at Transvulcania last month.
Peter Fraňo, 2025 Transvulcania Ultramarathon champion. Photo: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
Jeff Mogavero claimed his Golden Ticket after taking second at last October’s Javelina 100 Mile in 12:54, just nine minutes behind David Roche and in the third fastest time in race history. That said, Mogavero is not necessarily a flat and fast specialist, as he was 16th at UTMB in 2022 and fifth at the Madeira Island Ultra-Trail in 2024. Earlier this year, he took fourth at the Canyons 100k.
Dan Green definitely excels at 100 miles and beyond. He ran the Black Canyon 100k in 2023 and 2024, finishing 12th and 22nd, respectively. On the other hand, he was fourth at the Javelina 100 Mile in 2023 in 13:18 and third at the race in 2024 in 12:58. Even more notably, Green just won the Cocodona 250 Mile in early May in course record time. With such a big performance so recently, the question is will he be exhausted or blazing off that Cocodona fitness?
Dan Green on his way to winning the 2025 Cocodona 250 Mile. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Ryan Montgomery got a little luck to get into Western States this year as he earned his spot with a fifth place at the Canyons 100k, thanks to three men’s spots being available at the race, winner Francesco Puppi declining his spot, and fourth place Mogavero having already earned a spot at Javelina 2024. However, just two years ago, Montgomery was seventh at Western States in 15:38, although he was 20th in 18:34 last year. In 2021, Montgomery ran 13:33 to take second at the Javelina 100 Mile.
At 25 years old, Hans Troyer promises to be one of the younger runners at the front of this year’s field. The former collegiate steeplechaser, 5k, and 10k runner ran his first ultra in late 2023, before bursting onto the ultrarunning radar with a win at the Bandera 100k only a few months later. So far this year, he’s won the Way Too Cool 50k in 3:19 finished second at the Canyons 100k, where he earned his Golden Ticket. This will be his 100-mile debut.
Hans Troyer taking second at the 2025 Canyons by UTMB 100k. Photo: Jacob Banta
Seth Ruhling will be among those making their 100-mile debut at Western States this year after running his way in with a win at the Black Canyon 100k in February, after taking more than an hour off of his sixth-place finish there in 2022. He’s twice won the JFK 50 Mile (2023 and 2019), and has also seen success in the mountains, including placing sixth at CCC in 2023.
Less than two years into his ultrarunning journey, Will Murray will be making his 100-mile debut after taking second place to Seth Ruhling by two minutes at February’s Black Canyon 100k. He was fourth at last year’s Leadville 100 Mile in 17:29 and eighth at this year’s Chuckanut 50k.
Adrian Macdonald might be best known for his pair of low 16-hour wins at the Leadville 100 Mile in 2021 and 2022. His blazing 15:56 Leadville finish in 2024 only netted him a second place courtesy of Roche setting a course record ahead of him. He also won the Ultra-Trail Kosciuzsko 100 Mile in 2022 and the Tarawera 100 Mile in 2024. Macdonald ran his way into Western States with his third place at the Tarawera 100k this February.
Adrian MacDonald, the 2024 Tarawera 100 Mile men’s winner. Photo: Cameron McKenzie
While Joe McConaughy is probably best known for his fastest known times or his win of the 2022 Cocodona 250 Mile, he’s been trying to run his way into the Western States 100 for years. His third-place finish at this year’s Black Canyon 100k was enough to get him in. Previously, he was also third at the Bandera 100k in 2022 and fourth at the Javelina 100 Mile in 14:13 in 2021.
While he’s run other international ultras, it looks like Hiroki Kai of Japan might have run the race of his life in taking second at this year’s Tarawera 100k to find his way into this year’s Western States. It’s not clear if he’s spending three straight months in the U.S. ahead of Western States, but he finished fourth at the Lake Sonoma 50 Mile and 23rd at the Canyons 100k, both in April.
If you’ve been following the Cocodona 250 Mile the past couple of years, you would have seen Haroldas Subertas win last year before taking fourth this year. He also won the Tahoe 200 Mile in both 2022 and 2024 and took second at the Moab 240 Mile in 2024. In the most competitive 100-mile he’s run to date, he took eighth at the 2023 Run Rabbit Run 100 Mile.
While Jeff Browning isn’t likely to match his three top five finishes that he logged from 2016 to 2018, tough conditions could have him passing plenty of folks above him in this preview. Just last year, he was second at the Cocodona 250 Mile and fourth at the High Lonesome 100 Mile. Now age 53, we’re guessing the men’s 50-59 age-group record, held by Steven Moore in 18:14, is on notice with him.
Jeff Browning on his way to his sixth Hardrock 100 finish in 2022. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Previously Entered but Not Running
- Hayden Hawks
- Jonathan Rea
- Jia-Sheng Shen
- Jim Walmsley
- Huo-Hua Zhang
Call for Comments
- What are your predictions for the top spots?
- Who else could be in the hunt for the men’s top 10?
From the wayback machine, Kilian Jornet racing at the 2010 Western States 100. Photo: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
