Kilojoules Magazine

43-year old Ida Nilsson continues to hunt first-place Abby Hall as she passes by the Rucky Chucky aid station at mile 78. Hall, the Arizona local, came through the Cal-2 checkpoint five minutes ahead of Nilsson, a gap which has since shrunk to under 4 minutes and thirty seconds. Although nothing is guaranteed over the final 20 miles, Hall looks strong and is poised to take her first ever victory at the world’s oldest hundred-mile-race if she can begin to apply a bit more pressure on the Swede. 

Fuzhao Xiang looks dangerous in third place as she continues to chip away at the 6-minute gap up to Nilsson, making up a full minute from mile 71 to 73 and another three from 73 to 78. The 33-year-old runner from Deqing, China has climbed to within striking distance of the front two runners with around 20 miles remaining.

Early race leader Martyna Mlynarczyk led the field on a wild chase through the halfway point before the heat set in around mile 53, causing her to fall from first to 12th en route to Michigan Bluff, where she ended her day early. The Polish debutant racing for Hoka surprised many in the early stages of the race, showcasing her 33-minute road 10k speed to break up the lead pack, but forfeited the lead to Adidas Terrex runner Abby Hall, who has held on strong for the past 20 miles. 

Two-time 3rd-place finisher and early favorite Eszter Csillag suffered a similar fate to Mlynarczyk, dropping out of the race at Michigan Bluff due to an unspecified injury after slowly fading from 4th to 20th.