The Western States 100 elite start lists for the 27-28 June race in Auburn, California, are now public, and the men's field has been transformed by the return of four-time champion and course record-holder Jim Walmsley, who announced on 1 May that he would take a Hoka sponsor entry. Walmsley's last appearance on the start line came in 2025, when he withdrew before the gun with an injury and watched six American men finish in the top ten. Since then he has won OCC at Chamonix and taken gold in the Long Trail event at the World Mountain Championships, and he arrives at Robie Point this June rested and uninterrupted by golden ticket racing.
Walmsley is far from the only headline. Kilian Jornet is the top returning finisher from 2025, where he placed third on his Western States debut, and his decision to base in Colorado for an extended block this spring has been read in trail circles as a sharp signal of intent. The Catalan is a five-time Hardrock 100 champion and four-time UTMB winner, but a victory in the canyons above Foresthill remains the conspicuous gap on a curriculum vitae most consider already the strongest in the history of the sport. Race directors have privately welcomed the matchup as the most compelling competitive juxtaposition Squaw Valley has produced since 2019.
Both of last year's podium finishers above Jornet have stepped away. Defending champion Caleb Olson and runner-up Chris Myers will sit out 2026 to focus on other pursuits, leaving the men's field genuinely wide open behind Walmsley and Jornet. Hoka's golden-ticket cohort gives the race depth: 2022 winner Adam Peterman, three-time top-ten finisher Hayden Hawks and first-time entrant Zach Miller all carry credible win cases, joined by Francesco Puppi, David Sinclair (the former Nordic skier who set the JFK 50 course record last autumn), Will Murray, Canyon Woodward and 2:13 marathoner Anthony Costales.
The women's race may be the deeper of the two. All top-ten women from 2025 were invited back, and all accepted, an unusually clean return rate that promises a tactical front group through the climb out of the canyons and into the Foresthill aid station. Riley Brady, who took a commanding win at Canyons 100K to claim a golden ticket after missing on initial qualifying, joins the field as one of the most discussed late additions. The list of returning podium contenders and Canyons graduates is long enough that even an in-form Brady will need to navigate a series of strong rivals over the run to Auburn.
The broader story of the 2026 entry list is one of generational rebalance. Western States is no longer a race that any single athlete can be expected to win; the sport's depth in the United States, combined with the willingness of European stars to travel west, has produced a field where the podium is genuinely uncertain even with two of the sport's biggest names on the start line. Predictions will sharpen over the next six weeks as athletes complete final altitude blocks and the long-range Auburn forecast comes into view, but the 2026 race already looks set to be the most discussed Western States in years.