Since Pat Smythe’s trailblazing win in 1978, 24 unique women have won the Western States 100 Endurance Run. And yet, the name of arguably second-best performer of all time is nowhere to be found on that hallowed list of champions.

That name is Katie Schide, who stopped the clock in 16 hours, 43 minutes, and 45 seconds last year—nearly 13 hours faster than Smythe’s win in 29:34, and four minutes under Ellie Greenwood’s course record of 16:47:19 from 2012.

The only problem? Courtney Dauwalter ran even faster, winning the 2023 race in an unthinkable 15:29:33.

Schide, a native of Maine who has lived in France for eight years, will be back in Palisades Tahoe on June 29 for another crack at America’s most iconic 100-mile race. She won’t have to contend with Dauwalter this time. But even more importantly, Schide—who etched her name in ultrarunning history when she won the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) in 2022—is simply on another level this year.

After a decisive win at the 102-mile Diagonale des Fous in October on Réunion Island in the Indian Ocean, Schide and her head coach Jason Koop expanded the team to include a strength coach, a sports psychologist, and a nutritionist. That change has provided the marginal gains so hard to come by at the highest level, Koop says. Schide has been running farther and faster than ever during her pre-States training camp out west. She may not be the defending champ, but she is most definitively the one to beat.

While on paper it looks like Schide versus the best of the rest, never underestimate the grit of ultrarunner women. The year 2024 is the year of the moms, and the women’s field boasts six of the best. There’s also a handful of States top-10 vets who seem to only improve here every year, a handful of very fast women making their 100-mile debuts, and at least six elite women over age 40 pushing the limits of what’s possible in this sport.

Will the hard work of the large contingent of women (many of whom are European) who have spent the last six weeks or so prepping for the unbearable heat and quad-smashing descents in and around the Grand Canyon pay off? Who are the dark horse contenders who don’t put up hero training on Strava but wisely haven’t overcooked themselves before the big day in the canyon convection oven? Tune in below.

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Top Women

With six of the top 10 women from last year returning, plus a strong lineup from an expanded Golden Ticket field, the women’s field is as deep as ever. But all eyes will be on Katie Schide. After her runner-up performance under course-record time here last year, the Mainer-turned-French-expat demonstrated her immense versatility with her runner-up showing at OCC, the 50K championship at the UTMB Finals, before her win at Diagonale des Fous.

She didn’t lose a beat after a winter of ski mountaineering racing in Europe, winning the Vertical Kilometer at Transgrancanaria on February 12 in a course record time of 47:31. On April 27 she  lowkey threw down one of the most impressive performances of the year with her first place (sixth overall) finish at the Canyons 100K, the final Golden Ticket race run on the back two thirds of the States course. While net downhill, that 64-mile race still packed 12,500 feet of climbing, and Schide finished in 9:10:10—an average of 8:34 minute per mile pace (7:21 grade adjusted pace, according to Strava).

In case Canyons wasn’t sufficient proof of her fitness, Schide has since been clocking monster weeks around Flagstaff, Arizona, including many trips to nature’s oven (the Grand Canyon), where she’s been putting in 130 mile weeks with 20,000 feet of climbing for about 20 hours of moving time each week. It’s a replica of her buildup from last year, just on steroids. If she can stay healthy and fresh until June 29, it’s her race for the taking.

RELATED: Rod Farvard Shocks, Katie Schide Shines at Canyons by UTMB

Fellow 2023 podium finisher Eszter Csillag also returns in hopes of improving on her third-place finish from last year. Like Schide, the Hungarian mother of two, who lives in Hong Kong, has been stateside for most of the spring putting in miles (and heat training) in Arizona and on the Western States course. While she hasn’t raced at all this year, her training suggests she’s just as fit—if not fitter—than when she clocked the fourth-fastest women’s time ever of 17:07:55 last year.

Csillag has been logging quite a few miles with fellow top 10 returners Emily Hawgood (fifth) and Ida Nilsson (seventh), the former of whom lives in Auburn and the latter of whom has joined the European Arizona-California tour this spring. Hawgood followed up her third top-10 States performance last year with second at CCC, the 100K championship at the UTMB Finals. After a string of shorter race wins in California this winter, all signs indicate her footspeed is raring to go. Nilson has only raced once since States (the Ultravasan 90K in her native Sweden, which she won) before DNSing at UTMB. But at age 42, the highly decorated former collegiate and pro runner has proven she knows how to show up when it matters most.

Priscilla Forgie (eighth) and Leah Yinglang (ninth) round out the top-10 returners and have proven they have what it takes to make it back into the top 10 again. Forgie stormed onto the international scene last year with her second-place finish at the Canyons 100K to earn her Golden Ticket into the race. She’s since placed 12th at CCC and third at the highly-competitive Chuckanut 50K in March.

After running 400 miles in six days at Lululemon’s FURTHER event in March, Yinglang won the Quad Rock 50-miler in Fort Collins, Colorado, seemingly proving she’s no worse for the wear. Like Hawgood, Yinglang is the queen of consistency at States, placing sixth, ninth, and ninth in her three showings here. Yinglang is also known for her killer back-half racing, where after a conservative start she works her way through the field. While that tactic has locked in her top-10 spot each time she’s toed the line, this race has simply gotten too fast for it to be enough to vie for the win. Will she swing for the fences with a more aggressive fight for a podium spot?

Yngvild Kaspersen of Norway and Emily Schmitz, another American living in France, both earned Golden Tickets at CCC last August. A standout on the shorter distance trail scene for years, Kaspersen finally nailed the 100K distance at the 2023 CCC, which she won. States will be her first 100-mile race, as well as an usual foray for the Norwegian into the heat. But she, too, has been on the European Arizona training program for the past month or so and appears well seasoned for the canyons’ wrath. Schmitz earned the second CCC Golden Ticket with her fifth-place finish after it passed down through Hawgood, and then Helen Miro Faukner from the U.S., and finally Hau Ha Thi from Vietnam, who both declined it. She, too, has been training in the U.S. this spring, although out of the Arizona fray in Salt Lake City. She won her tuneup at the Scout Mountain 23-miler on June 1, providing she’s got the leg speed for State’s buttery trails over the back half of the race.

Heather Jackson is back after making her debut at States last year, which ended in a DNF. The highly decorated long course triathlete and gravel cyclist, who recently took fifth at the prestigious Unbound 200-mile gravel bike race in Kansas, re-qualified by winning the Javelina 100-miler in October. Jackson has proven herself on the final section of the States terrain over the 50K distance, winning the Canyons 50K in 2023. But so far, the only 100-miler she’s nailed is Javelina, a unique hot, flat, non-technical looped course. Jackson went for it at Black Canyons in February, but she says she mismanaged her fueling, bonked epically, and crawled it in over the last 20 miles for a 13th place finish. Since Unbound on June 1, she’s been putting in high-volume mileage on both the States course and around one of her home bases in Phoenix so she should be primed for the heat. But has she seasoned her quads enough for the descents? Can she make it through the more technical high country without losing too much time to the likes of Schide, Hawgood, and Kaspersen?

Someone who absolutely nailed their race at Black Canyons is Rachel Drake. She won in commanding fashion to secure her first Golden Ticket. Drake has proven to be one of the best 50K runners in the world, most recently taking sixth at OCC last summer less than a year postpartum with her first child, son Lewis. Drake recently moved with her husband Tyler Green (who has finished second, fourth, and second at the last three Western States) and Lewis to Salt Lake City, where Drake is starting her medical residency in anesthesia. While she doesn’t put in the huge days of someone like Schide, don’t let that fool you. As 2019 Western States champ Clare Gallagher says, it’s not about how fit you are. (Although there is zero doubt Drake is very fit.) It’s about how ready you are mentally to go to the well. Drake has incredible leg speed, a killer instinct, and the tenacity  to push when it gets tough. Not to mention, crushing this race runs in the family.

RELATED: Heather Jackson Refuses to be Categorized, Mostly Because She’s Really Good at Everything

Other Women to Watch

There are so many fast, fit women toeing the line, it’s impossible to do them all justice! After taking fourth at UTMB Mont Blanc last year with a memorable (and perhaps controversial) finish line proposal from her partner, Fu-Zhao Xiang is making her States debut thanks to a sponsor bib from Hoka. (Yes, she said “yes.”) While she’s known for excelling at mountainous hundreds, Xiang’s also proved her mettle over the 50K distance—including with a fourth-place at the Broken Arrow 46K last year. She’s been training on the States course for the last month.

Lin Chen and Anna Li, both of China, went 1-2 at Doi Inthanon Thailand by UTMB 100K on December 8—proving they can shine in heinously hot and humid conditions. This will be their first time racing in the U.S., and in the case of Chin, her first time outside of Asia. (Li ran CCC last year, where she took 34th.)

Coloradans Becca Windell and Lauren Puretz both ran exceedingly strong races at Black Canyons to finish second and third and earn Golden Tickets. Windell won the Bear 100 last fall, but most recently had a tough day at the Quad Rock 25 miler in May, where she finished 25th. Puretz, who is a gynecologist and mom of two, has crushed the short course trail scene for years, and just missed a Golden Ticket last October with a fourth-place finish at the Javelina Jundred 100 miler. Since securing her Golden Ticket in February, she took third at the highly competitive Gorge Waterfalls 50K and won two sub-ultra distance trail races, suggesting she’s in sharp form.

Anna Louden and Careth Arnold (more on her below) did, as well, at Canyons. They face a tight turnaround, but are blessed with States falling on about as late of a date as possible this year. Plus, Adam Peterman earned a Golden Ticket at Canyons in 2022 and won States just eight weeks later.

Ragna Debats has been called out in race previews so often for so many years, her name is like comfort food. Thanks to her second place at Javelina, the Catalonian will also be toeing the line. Unlike nearly all of her elite European counterparts, she’s chosen to do her build at home. Does the 45 year old still have it?

Lotti Brinks won the Grindstone by UTMB 100K, which served as a Golden Ticket race in Virginia last September, to earn her spot into the big dance. She’s won her last five races all within the last six months, proving she’s durable on all types of terrain. She’ll be joined by her sister-in-law, Arnold, who earned the final Golden Ticket after it rolled down to her fourth-place finish at Canyons. A mom of two, Arnold broke onto the scene last year when she took third at the Bandera 100K (then a Golden Ticket race). She ran her way into this race only seven months postpartum, and her trajectory only seems to be going up.

Anna Louden also won a Golden Ticket at Canyons by finishing third, redeeming herself from missing a ticket by one spot at the same race the year before. While States will be her first 100 miler, Louden finished seventh at the World 100K road running championships in 2022.

Can Kaci Lickteig, the 2016 Western States champ who is going for her 10th finish, run her way back into the top 10? How will 200-mile stalwart Sally McRae, who got a sponsor bib, fare? Catch all the action starting at 5 A.M. on Saturday morning on the race’s Youtube channel.

RELATED: How Kaci Lickteig Won Western States