Jim Walmsley is returning to the Western States 100. The four-time champion and course record holder has accepted entry into the 2026 race, and the timing of his return is hard to ignore. Next summer marks exactly a decade since his first start at the iconic Sierra Nevada-to-Auburn 100-miler, the day a wrong turn near the finish turned an unknown elite into one of the most-watched figures in the sport.
The news was first reported by Run Free Trail, the trail running media outfit, which confirmed Walmsley’s entry on Instagram. “THE KING RETURNS,” the post read. The outlet covered the announcement on its weekly broadcast, Rest Day Live.
For long-time fans of the race, the anniversary does heavy lifting. In 2016, Walmsley led Western States by a wide margin late into the race before missing a turn in the canyons in the closing miles. He still finished, but well behind the lead.
Walmsley was on the 2025 start list, too. He withdrew before the gun because of an injury, missing what turned out to be an all-American day up front, with six Americans finishing in the top ten. Caleb Olsen won. Chris Myers was second. Kilian Jornet, racing through the back end of a knee injury, came home third in 14 hours, 19 minutes, and 22 seconds. Neither Olsen nor Myers is on the 2026 returning list, which leaves the men’s race wide open at the top.
The 2026 men’s field is already loaded.
Jornet is back and certainly coming in with good for as he has also announced his return to UTMB at the end of August, a double he last pulled off in 2011. Italian mountain runner Francesco Puppi, the 2025 CCC winner, will make his 100-mile debut after grabbing a Golden Ticket. American David Sinclair, who set the JFK 50 course record last fall, is in. So is high school teacher turned full-time professional Will Murray, who set a course record at the Javelina Jundred in October. Hans Troyer, 25, finished eighth in his debut last year and has since won JFK 50 and Black Canyon.
The women’s field is shaping up as a rematch of the 2025 race. All ten of last year’s top finishers are back, including champion Abby Hall, runner-up Fuzhao Xiang of China, and Canada’s Marianne Hogan. The 2026 Golden Ticket class also includes Olympic marathon bronze medalist Molly Seidel, who has moved her focus to trails, and Anne Flower, a physician who broke Ann Trason’s 31-year-old Leadville 100 course record last summer and went on to set the 50-mile world record in November.
The race itself caps the field at 369 runners, and for runners outside the elite path, getting in is brutal. The lottery odds for the 2026 race came in at below 3 percent for first timers, lower than the acceptance rate at most Ivy League schools.
