The 2026 Western States 100 elite men's field has been reshaped four weeks out from the Auburn finish, with four-time champion and course-record holder Jim Walmsley confirming on Thursday evening that he will not start on 27 June. Hoka, who handed Walmsley the sponsor slot at the start of May, is moving the entry to Cocodona 250 champion Dan Green, who lined up at Black Canyon and Canyons earlier in the year and has been training in Flagstaff alongside the Coconino Cowboys group through May.
Walmsley's withdrawal lands one week after Hayden Hawks, last year's third-place finisher and the 2024 CCC champion, was also forced to pull his entry. Hawks had earned the final Hoka Golden Ticket at Canyons Endurance Runs 100K on 25 April but cited a long-running soft-tissue issue when stepping away from the start list this week, mirroring the late withdrawal pattern that has dogged the men's field every June since 2022. Hawks indicated he will switch to a late-summer build pointed at UTMB.
The reshuffle leaves Kilian Jornet as the headline name in the men's elite block, with the Catalan returning to the Sierra Nevada course for the first time since his 2011 win. Behind him, Vincent Bouillard, Rod Farvard, Dakota Jones and Dan Green now sit at the top of the speculative pace lines, with the absence of Walmsley pulling out the obvious 14:00 anchor and opening the front pack to a much more uncertain leading group. Bookmakers in Australia and the United Kingdom have shifted Jornet to even money in the past 24 hours.
Green's elevation continues a year of golden tickets and sponsor entries reshaping the elite race rather than the qualifier funnel. The 33-year-old American won Cocodona 250 in early May, breaking the men's course record and following the win with a low-mileage taper that his coach Megan Roche flagged as an attempt to "land softly" into Western States. Green has no prior 100-mile finish under sixteen hours and will be a first-time Western States starter on 27 June.
Race director Craig Thornley confirmed on Thursday that no further sponsor-entry movements are expected before the formal field freeze on 13 June. The women's elite field, headed by 2025 champion Katie Schide and including the entire 2025 top ten, remains unchanged. Western States 2026 is the 50th edition of the race and will start at 05:00 local time at Palisades Tahoe with the final cut-off at 11:00 on Sunday 28 June at Placer High School.