Jenn Lichter breaks Western States course record in debut 100-mile run

Jenn Lichter broke the Western States 100 course record on 27 June, winning the race that runs from Olympic Valley to Auburn, California, in her first 100-mile effort. She finished in 15 hours 28 minutes 5 seconds, 88 seconds faster than Courtney Dauwalter’s previous course record.

Lichter was born in Bogotá, Colombia, and at two years old was placed in an orphanage with her older brother Harold and younger sister Kim after their father was shot and killed and their mother struggled with addiction. The siblings were moved to an orphanage at seven that sought to have them adopted together, and at nine they were taken in by a family in La Crosse, Wisconsin, where a bilingual nanny, sticky-word labels and a dictionary helped the children learn English.

Her introduction to running came in middle school after her adopted mother suggested cross-country; Lichter later described the sport as something she could control and said the obsession began there. At 12 she was diagnosed with anorexia and spent the next three years in and out of treatment centres; in high school she began winning races and accepted a walk-on place at the University of Toledo rather than offers from Division II and III schools. "I felt like working for my spot would bring out the best in me," she said. "I had a fantastic freshman year, then dealt with RED-S [relative energy deficiency in sport] the rest of college. After that, I didn't think running was meant to be in my life."

After graduating, Lichter travelled west with her mother, visited Glacier national park and then settled in Kalispell, Montana, where she worked as a hiking guide and often lived out of a tent. She met her fiancé, Nick Cornell, while guiding; on days off they ran trails together and rediscovered the joy of running. In autumn 2021 Cornell suggested The Rut 50k in Big Sky, Montana, and Lichter finished with the third-fastest time in course history; shortly afterwards The North Face offered her a professional trail running contract.

Lichter went on to win multiple competitive 50k races in the United States, including The Rut twice more, Broken Arrow Skyrace twice, Speedgoat and Gorge Waterfalls, and she decided to move up in distance with a goal of winning Western States. To qualify, she ran the Black Canyon 100k in February and won by mere seconds, earning a golden ticket to the Sierra Nevada event.

At Western States, a race the article described as the oldest and most prestigious 100-miler with 18,000ft of climbing and daytime temperatures often near triple digits, Lichter stayed with the leaders through the first half before making a decisive move on the climb to Devil’s Thumb. Her lead expanded thereafter; at the final aid station she held a substantial margin and, a mile from the finish, Cornell told her she was just ahead of the course record. "That was the first I had heard about it," Lichter said. She sprinted the final mile down Auburn’s streets onto the Placer High track to break the tape.

Lichter said the result took time to sink in. "It took a while to process," she said. She has framed her career and life around resilience—"If shit ever hits the fan, I just pick myself up and dust myself off and continue on"—and has spoken about changing her approach to training: "Now I'm focused on taking care of myself first … actually taking easy runs easy, and not running myself into the ground. My sense of control is a lot different than it used to be."

With the season winding down, Lichter said she is still processing the achievement but that her daily routine has not dramatically changed. "I feel more confident, but truthfully, my life is still the same," she said. "I just keep putting in the work and being willing to take shots at new things. With my two feet on the ground, I have a sense of safety and control I used to not have, which gives me the confidence to try just about anything."