On 27 June, Jenn Lichter lined up for her first 100-mile race, the Western States 100. The oldest and most prestigious 100-miler in the world, Western States attracts a highly competitive field from around the globe – the athletes run across the Sierra Nevada from Olympic Valley to Auburn, California. Despite 18,000ft of climbing and daytime temperatures often flirting with triple digits, Lichter went in confident.
The gap grew and at the final aid station, Lichter had a sizable lead over the athlete in second place. A mile from the finish, Nick Cornell, Lichter’s fiance, told her she was just ahead of the course record. Before 2026, only one woman had come within 50 minutes of Dauwalter’s time, making the record seem nearly unbreakable to most fans.
Two months later, Lichter is only just putting that moment into perspective. It’s like summiting one of the most beautiful peaks in the world and at first you can’t fully understand what you’re seeing.” Lichter’s road to that record-shattering win was far from traditional. She was born in Bogotá, Colombia, and at two years old she was picked up by childcare services and placed in an orphanage, along with her older brother and younger sister.
Her father had been shot and killed while involved with drug cartels and her mother struggled with addiction, leaving the children to fend for themselves on the streets. When you’re a kid, you don’t know better.” Lichter’s mom would visit on the weekends, while trying to get back on her feet. When Lichter was seven, she and her siblings, Harold and Kim, were moved to an orphanage that worked to get them adopted together.
From birth, we’ve felt attached at the hip. Like twins, we can feel each other’s emotions. Our souls are intertwined.” Through those years, Lichter also learned how to rely on herself to get through challenges.
Hardships never last for ever.” When she was nine, Lichter and her siblings were adopted by a family in La Crosse, Wisconsin, on the banks of the Mississippi. She only knew a handful of English words – hello and goodbye, water, a few colors – so her adopted parents hired a bilingual nanny to help translate, carried a dictionary everywhere they went and covered the house in sticky notes with Spanish words and their English equivalent together, to help the kids learn the new language. The biggest culture shock for Lichter was the freedom she suddenly had.
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