A finish time is the headline. The hundred miles behind it are the story.
The 2026 Western States 100 will be remembered as the year the records fell. On one of the coolest race days in the event’s 53-year history, fast conditions met one of the deepest fields the race has ever seen, and the results rewrote the books from the front of the pack to the back, with a record share of the field reaching the finish.
For Suunto, it was the kind of weekend we celebrate:
Suunto athletes delivered standout performances with two signature watches built for different trail running needs:
- Jennifer Lichter — women’s 1st, 15:28:05, Suunto Race 2
- Tara Dower — women’s 6th, 16:13:07, Suunto Vertical 2
- Ryan Montgomery — men’s 3rd, 13:53:55, Suunto Vertical 2
- Zach Miller — men’s 5th, 14:20:09, Suunto Vertical 2
- Jeff Mogavero — men’s 7th, 14:38:36, Suunto Vertical 2
- Will Murray — men’s 9th, 15:23:12, Suunto Vertical 2
Jennifer Lichter won the women’s race in a course record. Ryan Montgomery ran onto the men’s podium. And across the field, Suunto athletes turned in one of their strongest days on the trail.
But the times only tell you who was fastest. They do not tell you about the climb out of Olympic Valley before sunrise, the canyons that bake even in a cool year, the river crossing at mile 78, or the hundreds of small choices that decide whether a good day becomes a great one. That is the part of Western States a performance watch is truly built for.
A truly demanding course
Western States runs 100.2 miles (161 km) from Olympic Valley to the track at Placer High School in Auburn, California. It climbs roughly 18,000 feet (5,500 m) and descends close to 23,000 feet (7,000 m) along the way. The race opens with a long climb to the Escarpment in the first few miles, then works through high country, long descents, exposed canyons, and the American River crossing at Rucky Chucky before the final push into Auburn.
A course like that does not reward speed alone. It rewards pacing that holds for fifteen hours or more, climbing managed so the legs are still there at mile 80, navigation when the trail is remote and the light is low, and battery that outlasts the clock. Every one of those is a decision, made again and again, mile after mile.
The right watch does not make the decision for you. It gives you what you need to make it well.
Jennifer Lichter and the Suunto Race 2
Lichter came to Olympic Valley for her first 100-mile race, having already set a course record at the Black Canyon 100K earlier in the year. She ran Western States the way the course asks to be run. She settled into an effort she believed she could hold all day, let the race come to her, and took the lead for good at Devil’s Thumb, mile 47.8. She crossed the line in 15:28:05, 88 seconds under the course record set in 2023 by fellow Suunto athlete Courtney Dauwalter.
“I just kept telling myself: trust yourself, trust the process, and what will be will be,” Lichter said after the finish. “If you want to win, you have to have a winner’s mindset. That’s what it takes.”
On her wrist was the Suunto Race 2.
Race 2 is built for exactly that kind of race: fast, focused, and full of quick glances at speed.
Its bright 1.5-inch AMOLED display stays readable in canyon glare and low light, so a runner moving over technical ground gets the number in the half second she can spare.
Dual-band GPS holds accurate pace and distance where terrain and tree cover would scatter a weaker signal.
Climb guidance shows how much ascent is left in a section, so effort goes to the climbs that matter and stays in reserve for the ones still ahead. And up to 55 hours of GPS battery covers a 100-mile race, cutoff and all, with margin left over.
Lichter’s win gave all of that a human shape: controlled from the high country to Auburn, and clear about the effort the whole way.
Ryan Montgomery and the Suunto Vertical 2
Montgomery’s third place was its own piece of history. His 13:53:55 was a personal best by nearly two hours, and for the first time ever, the top three men all finished under 14 hours. His time would have won any previous edition of the race.
“I threw all the fear away and just ran my race,” Montgomery said. “I wanted to feel pressure, and I definitely had that today. I got the best of myself.”
Western States was fast in 2026, but it is still a mountain 100, and the back half is no place for uncertainty. Montgomery ran it on the Suunto Vertical 2, the watch built for the ultra-distance end of the sport.
Up to 65 hours of GPS battery gives a runner margin the race plan can lean on. Offline maps and full navigation keep the route clear through remote terrain, where a phone is dead weight and cell service is a rumor. And an integrated LED flashlight earns its keep in the dark hours that bookend a long day on the trail.
Montgomery was one of several Suunto athletes to run well. Nine Suunto athletes finished the race, eight of them inside the top ten, with Zach Miller, Jeff Mogavero, Will Murray, and Tara Dower all in the mix on a record-setting day.
Two watches, one idea
Race 2 and Vertical 2 sit at different ends of the same shelf. Race 2 is the pick when the priority is speed, a clear display, and a lighter watch for race day. Vertical 2 is the pick when the priority is reach: longer battery, a rugged build, and navigation for remote mountain routes. Both are built on the same belief, that a trail runner should have clear, reliable information exactly when the route turns hard.
Most runners will never race Western States. Many will never run 100 miles. But every trail runner knows the feeling at a trailhead: the route ahead will ask questions, and you would rather meet them with confidence than with hope.
That is where Suunto has spent 90 years, and where both of these watches are meant to live. From Olympic Valley to Auburn, and from a record-setting Saturday to an ordinary Tuesday run, the job is the same. Help you make the next good decision, and then the one after that.
