The 2026 Western States 100 produced two course records, an all-sub-14 men’s podium, and the fastest 100-mile debut in women’s race history. It also produced a footwear roster that read more like a product roadmap than a starting list. Of the six men and women who finished on the podium, four ran in prototypes that have not been released to the public.
Here is what was on each podium finisher’s feet, what we know about those shoes, and where the public versions sit in the market right now.
Women’s podium
1. Jenn Lichter — Nike ACG prototype
Lichter set the women’s course record in a white prototype from Nike’s ACG (All Conditions Gear) trail line. Nike has not released images or specs of this exact build, but it sits on the same platform Nike has been racing under the ACG Ultrafly name since 2024.
The public ACG Ultrafly is Nike’s flagship trail super shoe. It pairs a ZoomX midsole with a split carbon FlyPlate — the plate is divided into a medial and lateral half so it can flex independently across uneven ground. The outsole uses Vibram Megagrip with directional 3mm lugs. Nike says it ran the platform through 13 rounds of prototyping and more than 30,000 miles of athlete testing in seven countries and 25 states before bringing the Ultrafly to retail. Spec on the current model: roughly 287g (men’s US 10), 38.1mm heel / 27.4mm forefoot, 8.5mm drop, with a notably wide forefoot at around 97.8mm.
Nike’s trail program has been on a steep climb since Caleb Olson won the 2025 Western States in a prototype version of the same silhouette. Lichter’s record on Saturday is the second straight Western States women’s record set off the same R&D pipeline.
2. Riley Brady — Nike ACG prototype
Brady wore the same white Nike ACG prototype as Lichter. Brady finished second in 15:42:14, the third-fastest women’s time in Western States history.
That two of the first three women on course chose the same unreleased shoe is itself a data point. Nike’s trail program is now landing podiums at the sport’s most-watched 100-miler with a product the public can’t yet buy.
3. Marianne Hogan — Salomon prototype
Hogan, a longtime Salomon athlete, raced in an unreleased orange-red prototype with a knit upper. Salomon has not publicly identified the model. Hogan’s usual race shoe is the S/Lab Genesis, a unisex trail racer built on Salomon’s Matryx upper, an EndoFit internal sleeve, an integrated debris gaiter, and the brand’s All-Terrain Contagrip outsole. Whether Saturday’s prototype is a Genesis update, a new Salomon platform, or a one-off build for Hogan is, for now, not public.
What we can say: the shoe carried Hogan to her third career third-place finish at Western States, in 15:51:44.
Men’s podium
1. Vincent Bouillard — HOKA Tecton X prototype
Bouillard’s record-breaking run came in a custom HOKA Tecton X prototype shaped around his stride and feedback. HOKA, which sponsors both the race and the runner, has described the shoe as an ongoing collaboration rather than a single one-off — Bouillard was an engineer at the company before turning pro and continues to weigh in on the design.
The retail reference point is the HOKA Tecton X 3, the current production trail super shoe. The Tecton X 3 stacks 40mm of cushion in the heel and 35mm in the forefoot, with a 5mm drop, two layers of PEBA foam sandwiching two parallel carbon plates, winglets on the plates for lateral stability, a knit ankle gaiter, and a Vibram Megagrip outsole. Weight is around 265g (men’s US 9). Retail is $275.
The prototype Bouillard raced visibly carries the Tecton X DNA — the high-stack profile, the knit collar — but the specs are not public.
2. Francesco Puppi — HOKA Tecton X 3
Puppi raced the production Tecton X 3 in the standard grey/black colorway, and ran 13:51:08 in his 100-mile debut. He led for most of the day before Bouillard caught him in the final 15 miles.
This is the retail shoe — same specs as above. It is, at the moment, the most-raced trail super shoe at the elite level, and Puppi’s second-place finish is the latest evidence of why.
3. Ryan Montgomery — La Sportiva Prodigio Pro
Montgomery wore the production La Sportiva Prodigio Pro to a third-place finish in 13:53:55. The Prodigio Pro is the top end of La Sportiva’s Prodigio line and the brand’s answer to the carbon-plated trail super shoe category.
Specs: about 225g in men’s US 9 (one of the lightest super shoes in the category), 32mm heel / 26mm forefoot, 6mm drop, a forefoot carbon plate that runs from midfoot through the toe-off, La Sportiva’s XFlow Speed midsole (dual super-critical nitrogen-infused TPU and EVA), a one-piece Power Wire upper with a knit cuff, and the brand’s FriXion Red outsole rubber. Retail is $230.
The Prodigio Pro is built more for rolling and runnable trail than for highly technical mountain terrain, which lines up well with the Western States course profile.
What this tells us
Western States used to be a single-brand story — for years it was about whatever HOKA put on whichever runner. Saturday looked different. HOKA still owns the men’s race. Nike’s ACG program now owns the women’s. La Sportiva’s Prodigio Pro is on the men’s podium. Salomon, despite a quiet release calendar this year, has a prototype on a third Western States podium. The carbon-plated trail super shoe category, which barely existed five years ago, now accounts for every shoe on every podium spot at the sport’s biggest race.
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