Looking for the men's results? Find them here.
It was a tale of redemotion for Abby Hall at the Western States 100 women's race as the runner returned from a serious injury to deliver one of the fastest times ever.
Not long after the 100-mile race took off from Palisades Tahoe Ski Resort on June 28, the 34-year-old quickly found her place near the front in a tight pack that included Ida Nilsson (Sweden), Eszter Csillag (Hungary) and Martyna Mlynarczyk (Poland). Much like men's winner Caleb Olson, Hall made her way to the front around the halfway point and maintained it till the end, arriving at Placer County High School in 16 hours, 37 minutes and 16 seconds, 11th overall.
That's over an hour behind Courtney Dauwalter's 2023 record, but it makes Hall the fourth fastest woman in WSER history, and it's a massive six hours faster than her 2021 debut at the race.
Hall has been sidelined by a knee injury for the last two years, but things started to look up for the Flagstaff runner last year when she won the Ultra-Trail Kosciuszko by UTMB 100k in her Agravic Speed Ultras.
"Two years ago, she couldn’t toe the line due to injury, today, she owns it. What a way to come back," writes an Instagram post her her sponsors at Adidas Terrex.
Hall initially missed out on securing her golden ticket a this year's Black Canyon Ultras, but when EmKay Sullivan announced she was pregnant a few weeks later, Hall learned she was heading to Western States after all.
What else went down?
Chinese runner Fuzhao Xiang was no doubt hoping for the win after taking second last year with the third fastest women's finish in history, but once again she found herself runner-up up, coming in 10 minutes behind Hall in 16:47:09 and nearly half an hour behind last year's time.
Taking third place, Canada's Marianne Hogan managed to pass Nilsson at the last minute and find herself on yet another podium in 16:50:58.
It wasn't all good news in the women's race, however, as the course got the better of Riley Brady, a favorite to win, who dropped at Forest Hills after nearly 13 hours. Csillag, Mlynarczyk and Heather Jackson all dropped earlier in the race.
As usual, this year's course saw runners and bystanders navigating everything from hard-packed snow to scorching temperatures, with the mercury reaching the 90s yesterday afternoon. The warm weather meant the river was low enough for the runners to cross on foot (holding onto a rope) rather than being ferried across in rafts.
