The 2025 Damaged Arrow Skyrace Ascent begins at 9:30 a.m. U.S. PDT on Friday, June 20, in Olympic Valley, California, and kicks off a giant weekend of races on the Damaged Arrow Skyrace occasion. iRunFar’s excited to share the race story!
The Damaged Arrow Ascent is doubly important this yr, being each a part of the 15-race Mountain Operating World Cup, administered by the World Mountain Operating Affiliation, and the choice race for Group USA for the Uphill race on the World Mountain Operating Championships this fall. The highest 4 American women and men finishers earn these spots.
Near a full vertical kilometer, the course runs three miles (4.8 kilometers) with 3,000 ft (914 meters) of vertical achieve. The technical route ascends by off-trail talus from the valley ground to complete on the summit of Washeshu Peak. The ultimate part follows the uncovered Headwall Ridge overlooking Lake Tahoe, the place runners will use a bolted hand line, after which climb the ultimate Stairway to Heaven ladder to the summit.
The beginning checklist options most of the standard Mountain Operating World Cup high runners, together with 2024 Damaged Arrow Ascent winners Kenya’s Joyce Muthoni Njeru for the ladies and countrymate Patrick Kipngeno for the lads.
5 of these lately chosen for Group USA for the Up and Down race at this fall’s world championships — the trial for which befell earlier this month at this yr’s U.S. Mountain Operating Championships — will likely be lining as much as safe a second group inserting: Anna Gibson and Allie McLaughlin for the ladies, and Mason Coppi, Taylor Stack, and Cam Smith for the lads.
They are going to face stiff competitors from different high U.S. runners, together with Rachel Tomajczyk for the ladies, Joseph Grey for the lads, and lots of extra.
In addition to the very best short-distance mountain runners and uphill specialists, the beginning checklist additionally features a smattering of ultrarunners on the town for the next weekend’s Western States 100 — amongst them, Spain’s Kilian Jornet. Take a look at the full entrants checklist.
Because of the World Mountain Operating Affiliation for supporting iRunFar’s 2025 Damaged Arrow Skyrace protection.
iRunFar will likely be there to share tales from the Ascent race! Make sure you additionally take a look at our preview of the Damaged Arrow Skyrace 23k, which we’re protecting, too.
Patrick Kipngeno and Joyce Muthoni Njeru, the 2024 Damaged Arrow Ascent winners. Photograph: World Mountain Operating Affiliation/Jonathan Wyatt
High Ladies
Joyce Muthoni Njeru
The Mountain Operating World Cup rankings place Kenya’s Joyce Muthoni Njeru — defending ladies’s Damaged Arrow Ascent champion — as the highest mountain runner globally, though she’s had a considerably slower begin to the 2025 season. She took third on the current 2025 Trofeo Nasego, however was somewhat additional again within the accompanying uphill race, the Vertical Nasego, the place she completed ninth. She was additionally sixth within the Kobe Path 21k, a Golden Path World Collection race, again in April. Final yr, Muthoni Njeru was narrowly defeated by the U.Okay.’s Scout Adkin to complete second within the season-long Mountain Operating World Cup. She gained the collection in 2021, 2022, and 2023.
Joyce Muthoni Njeru celebrates a win on the 2024 Val Bregaglia Path, a part of final yr’s Mountain Operating World Cup Finals. Photograph: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
Anna Gibson
Anna Gibson is aware of her manner across the Damaged Arrow Ascent course, having gained the 2023 version and positioned second final yr behind Joyce Muthoni Njeru. In 2023, she additionally doubled again and took second within the Damaged Arrow 23k. Coming off a win on the 2025 U.S. Mountain Operating Championships a number of weekends in the past, she has her place secured for Group USA within the World Mountain Operating Championships Up and Down race, and is definitely trying so as to add an Uphill race group spot to that as nicely. The probabilities of that occuring look fairly excessive.
Anna Gibson takes the win on the 2023 Damaged Arrow Ascent. Photograph: Peter Maksimow
Allie McLaughlin
Allie McLaughlin took third within the current 2025 U.S. Mountain Operating Championships and is subsequently already on Group USA for the World Mountain Operating Championships Up and Down race this fall, however she will likely be trying so as to add an Uphill race group spot to that. Because the 2022 World Mountain Operating Championships Uphill Champion, that is nicely inside her talents. She additionally positioned third within the 2022 World Mountain Operating Championships Up and Down race. She had a superb turnout at this occasion final yr, taking third on the Ascent and fourth on the 23k. Whereas nothing’s a assure, based mostly on the present health she demonstrated on the U.S. Mountain Operating Championships earlier this month and her large mountain operating historical past, she has a very good shot at a podium spot.
Allie McLaughlin on her technique to successful the 2023 Damaged Arrow 23k. Photograph: Peter Maksimow
Rachel Tomajczyk
Regardless of being sick, Rachel Tomajczyk managed to take eleventh on the 2025 U.S. Mountain Operating Championships earlier this month. We’re positive she’s hungry for a greater race and a Group USA spot for the World Mountain Operating Championships Uphill race this fall. At this occasion final yr, she took sixth in each the Ascent and the 23k, however the remainder of her current outcomes counsel she is perhaps able to higher than that. In 2024, she was runner-up at each the U.S. Mountain Operating Championships Up and Down and Uphill races. In 2023, she was respectively second and third at those self same occasions. Final fall, she ranked eleventh amongst high worldwide competitors on the 2024 Chiavenna Lagunc VK within the Mountain Operating World Cup Finals. A superb day might for positive see her get on the rostrum.
Rachel Tomajczyk (proper) on her technique to taking second on the 2022 U.S. Mountain Operating Championships, which befell on the Whiteface Skyrace. Photograph: Michael Scott
Hali Hafeman
Hali Hafeman took fourth in each the 2024 Damaged Arrow Ascent and Damaged Arrow 23k. Additionally final yr, she additionally took second within the Pikes Peak Ascent — up from eleventh in 2023 — and positioned ninth on the 2024 U.S. Nationwide Mountain Operating Championship Uphill race. It appears like this race is perhaps the beginning of her 2025 operating season, however she’s already had success on the 2025 U.S. Skimo Nationwide Championships in January, the place she gained the Vertical race, positioned third within the Dash race, and gained the Blended Relay alongside Cam Smith — who can also be racing within the males’s race. She needs to be a powerful contender for a Group USA spot.
Extra Quick Ladies
- Hillary Allen – 2nd 2025 Vail Mountain Video games 20k; 2nd 2021 Damaged Arrow Ascent; tenth 2021 Damaged Arrow 23k; third 2021 Damaged Arrow 46k
- Alexa Aragon – ninth 2025 U.S. Mountain Operating Championships; 4th 2024 U.S. Mountain Operating Championships Up and Down race
- Amanda Basham – 14th 2024 & sixth 2023 Damaged Arrow Ascent; thirteenth 2024 Damaged Arrow 23k; 1st 2022 Speedgoat 50k
- Jade Belzberg (Canada) – ninth 2024 & 2nd 2023 Damaged Arrow Ascent; 2nd 2024 Damaged Arrow 23k; twenty seventh 2023 World Mountain Operating Championships Uphill race
- Jessica Brazeau– fifth 2024 Damaged Arrow Ascent; fifth 2025 Chianti Extremely Path 46k; 2nd 2024 Wildstrubel 37k
- Brittany Charboneau – third 2023 The Rut 28k; 2nd 2022 & 1st 2020 Pikes Peak Marathon
- Annie Dube – 4th 2023 Damaged Arrow Ascent; sixth 2023 Damaged Arrow 23k; 2nd 2023 Cirque Collection – Snowbird; third 2022 Cirque Collection – Arapahoe Basin
- Kasie Enman – eighth 2025, 1st 2024, & 4th 2023 U.S. Mountain Operating Championships; third 2019 Damaged Arrow Ascent; third 2019 Damaged Arrow 23k; 1st 2011 World Mountain Operating Championships
- Janelle Lincks – 4th 2023 & 1st 2021 Damaged Arrow 23k; seventh 2021 Pikes Peak Ascent
- Abby Lock – seventh 2024 Damaged Arrow Ascent; eighth 2024 Damaged Arrow 23k; 1st 2024 Mammoth Trailfest Dragon Ascent
- Laurel Moyer – twelfth 2025 U.S. Mountain Operating Championships; third 2024 U.S. Mountain Operating Championships Up and Down race; fifth 2023 U.S. Mountain Operating Championships Uphill race
- Allie Ostrander – 2nd 2024 USATF 10k Path Nationwide Championships; eighth 2024 Mammoth Trailfest 27k; ninth 2024 Headlands 28k (In 2023, Ostrander was suspended for 4 months after testing optimistic for canrenone, a metabolite of spironolactone, after it was decided that she mistakenly took the drug with out first acquiring a World Anti-Doping Company Therapeutic Use Exemption.)
- Sydney Petersen – tenth 2025 U.S. Mountain Operating Championships; twelfth 2024 Damaged Arrow Ascent; seventh 2024 Damaged Arrow 23k
- Emkay Sullivan – fifth 2024 U.S. Mountain Operating Championships Up and Down Race; ninth 2023 Path World Championships – Brief Path; 4th 2022 Damaged Arrow Ascent
Hillary Allen, 2022 Extremely-Path Cape City 100 Mile champion. Photograph: Neville Sharwood
High Males
Because the 2022 and 2023 World Mountain Operating Championships Uphill Champion, Kenya’s Patrick Kipngeno is the person to beat on this race. He was the general winner of the 2024 Mountain Operating World Cup and is the defending champion of each the Damaged Arrow Ascent and 23k. His high outcomes from final yr embody wins at each Trofeo Nasego and Vertical Nasego, and a third-place end at Sierre-Zinal. He additionally gained the 2024 Val Bregaglia Path, as a part of the Mountain Operating World Cup Finals, and positioned third within the accompanying Kilometro Verticale Lagùnc.
Patrick Kipngeno, 2024 Damaged Arrow 23k males’s champion. Photograph: Howie Stern
Whereas he is perhaps racing just because he’s within the space for the Western States 100 per week later, Spain’s Kilian Jornet is the vertical kilometer quickest identified time (FKT) holder, so he can’t be discounted for the win right here. Jornet ran 28:48 for a measured vertical kilometer in Vengetind, Norway, in 2021 — the time was logged as an FKT try because it was exterior of a race setting. Though finest identified, not less than on the pages of iRunFar, as an ultrarunner, Jornet has gained Sierre-Zinal 10 instances and the Zegama Marathon 11 instances, arguably the 2 best sub-ultra mountain races on this planet. He will likely be enjoyable to look at on this setting and amongst these athletes.
Kilian Jornet on his technique to successful the 2024 Zegama Marathon. Photograph: Zegama Marathon/Igor Quijano
Henri Aymonod
Italy’s Henri Aymonod excels in uphill races and completed forward of Kipngeno in second place on the 2024 Kilometro Verticale Lagùnc, a race he gained in 2023. He gained the VK at Transgrancanaria in each 2024 and 2025, and positioned third on his final outing on the Damaged Arrow Ascent again in 2023. He lately took third on the 2025 Zmeu X-Fest, as a part of this yr’s Mountain Operating World Cup, and was simply two seconds behind second place.
Henri Aymonod, 2021 Kilometro Verticale Lagùnc champion. Photograph: World Mountain Operating Affiliation/Marco Gulberti
Kenya’s Philemon Kiriago has developed a reputation for ending runner-up, usually behind teammate Patrick Kipngeno, and he misplaced a little bit of kind towards the top of final yr’s racing season. Nevertheless, he’s off to a flying begin this yr, having lately gained Trofeo Nasego and positioned second within the accompanying uphill race, Vertical Nasego. He gained the 2025 Golfo dell’Isola Path 26k and took second on the 2025 Kobe Path 21k and is thus at present main the Golden Path World Collection. Kiriago is a powerful descender who does nicely over an extended distance, and uphill racing may not be his first alternative, however he nonetheless can’t be dominated out for the win.
Philemon Kiriago, the 2025 Trofeo Nasego males’s winner. Photograph: Photograph: World Mountain Operating Affiliation/Marco Gulberti
Colorado uphill specialist Joseph Grey has 4 wins to his title on the Pikes Peak Ascent, together with most lately in 2024. Final yr, he additionally gained the U.S. Mountain Operating Championships Uphill race. A legendary mountain runner, he has wins in uphill races going again so far as not less than 2009, together with 25 profession nationwide titles in mountain operating and path operating, so few on this discipline can contest him for longevity. Grey has twice been World Mountain Operating Champion — in 2019 and 2016 — and at his most up-to-date couple World Mountain Operating Championships, he took fifth within the Uphill race in 2023, and he was sixth in 2022. He’ll be eager to take up his spot on Group USA but once more.
Joseph Grey, 2021 Damaged Arrow 26k champion. Photograph: Damaged Arrow Skyrace
Extra Quick Males
- Christian Allen – 1st 2024 U.S. Mountain Operating Championships Up and Down race; 4th 2024 Damaged Arrow Ascent; ninth 2024 Kilometro Verticale Lagùnc
- Meikael Beaudoin-Rousseau – third 2024 Damaged Arrow Ascent; fifth 2024 Damaged Arrow 23k; third 2024 Pikes Peak Ascent; fifth 2024 Vertical Nasego
- Eric Blake – 4-time winner & 18-time finisher of Mount Washington Street Race
- Casey Campbell – tenth 2025 U.S. Mountain Operating Championships; eighth 2023 U.S. Mountain Operating Championships Up and Down race
- Mason Coppi – 2nd 2025 U.S. Mountain Operating Championships; 4th 2024 & tenth 2023 U.S. Mountain Operating Championships Up and Down race; eleventh 2024 Damaged Arrow 46k
- Zachary Erikson – seventh 2025 U.S. Mountain Operating Championships; third 2024 Mountain Operating Championships Up and Down race
- Remi Leroux (Canada) – sixth 2024 Damaged Arrow Ascent; eighth 2024 Damaged Arrow 23k; 4th 2024 Mammoth Trailfest Dragon Ascent
- David Sinclair – twelfth 2024 Damaged Arrow Ascent; 1st 2024 Damaged Arrow 46k; 1st 2022 The Rut VK; 1st 2022 Speedgoat 50k
- Cam Smith – 4th 2025 U.S. Mountain Operating Championships; 1st 2024 Kendall Mountain Run; ninth 2024 & 1st 2022 Damaged Arrow Ascent; third 2022 Damaged Arrow 23k
- Taylor Stack – third 2025 U.S. Mountain Operating Championships; 1st 2024 Imogene Move Run 14 mile; thirteenth 2024 Damaged Arrow Ascent; 4th 2024 Damaged Arrow 23k
- Andy Wacker – fifth 2025 U.S. Mountain Operating Championships; 4th 2024 U.S. Mountain Operating Championships Uphill race; 1st 2022 U.S. Mountain Operating Championships
The 2025 U.S. Mountain Operating Championships males’s podium that includes (left to proper) Cam Smith, David Norris, Mason Coppi, and Taylor Stack. All however Norris will race the Damaged Arrow Ascent. Photograph: American Path Operating Affiliation/Nancy Hobbs
Name for Feedback
- Who do you suppose will take the win, within the males’s and girls’s race?
- Who’re your picks for Group USA?
- Who’s lacking from this checklist that you simply need to point out? Make sure you share a few their race outcomes too.
