2026 Western States 100 Final Power Rankings
6/23/202637 min
In this episode we share our final "power rankings" for both the men's and women's races. Stay tuned for additional, in-depth previews of both elite fields later this week.
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsFinn Melanson· Host0:00
Norda is the official footwear partner of our 2026 Western States 100 coverage. All the rage this summer is the imminent release of their new model, the 055, the shoe that Rachel Entrickin wore start to finish en route to her course record victory at the Cocodona 250 earlier this year. Go check it out at nordarun.com, and make sure you are subscribed to their mailing list to get exclusive early access to the shoe. I've put a bunch of training miles in it. It's the real deal. We are back. It is Monday of Western States week. This is the first in a series of preview shows through Wednesday evening, and this is our power rankings episode. I'll provide some context on that in just a second, but we haven't had a chance to properly introduce Leah Yingling into this year's coverage. Leah, how are you doing right now?
Leah Yingling· Host0:44
Hi, guys. I am good. I'm happy to be here. This is, what, year number four? So happy to be here on the sidelines again at Western States, not running myself. I think this might be a little bit more fun doing it this way.
Finn Melanson· Host0:55
Do you endorse the Broken Arrow Triple Crown? Should we do this next year?
Leah Yingling· Host0:58
Do I endorse it? [sighs] Honestly, it's great training. I was telling a couple of people out there yesterday. I asked them, like, what they're training for, 'cause I feel like people don't exactly do the Triple Crown just to do it. They're training for something. So it's great training, stimulus. Don't know if I would endorse [chuckles] otherwise. I'm so sore today.
Finn Melanson· Host1:18
[chuckles] Well, uh, probably a lot of the audience knows the context behind the power rankings, but we did our first one of these, uh, about seven weeks ago. This was Brett Horning's idea,