Badwater 135 2026

Max Jolliffe won the 2026 Badwater 135 in 20:53:41, and Carmen Maria Perez won the women's race in 21:05:32, finishing second overall. Both times are course records, and Jolliffe is the first person to run the course under 21 hours.

Jolliffe took 39 minutes off Yoshihiko Ishikawa's 21:33:01 from 2019, and Perez took almost exactly as much off Ashley Paulson's 21:44:35 from 2023. Paulson finished second, nearly four hours back. Perez also went under Ishikawa's old mark: only Jolliffe has run the course faster. Four of the ten fastest runs in the race's history now come from this one night.

Francesco Perini and Tamás Bódis traded the lead through the first 72 miles, and Bódis led alone from Darwin at mile 90 to Lone Pine. Jolliffe did not lead the race until Portal Road at mile 131, where he came through about 18 minutes up on Bódis and held that to the line. Perez was a minute behind Jolliffe at Lone Pine and passed Bódis on the climb. The 2026 race was the first held under a 45-hour cutoff, lowered from 48. The last finisher came in at 44:25:53.