Badwater 135 results 2026: Records shattered in 'world's toughest footrace'

Max Jolliffe (USA) and Carmen Maria Perez (ESP) rewrote the record books as they shattered the previous best times in a historic edition of the Badwater 135 in Death Valley, California, USA.

The 135-mile challenge, described as the “world’s toughest footrace”, takes place in one of the harshest environments imaginable, with searing temperatures hitting the desert valley every July.

Starting in the Badwater Basin – at 85m the lowest elevation point in North America – the ultramarathon takes competitors through three mountain ranges for a total elevation gain of 4450m – in near-record temperatures this year which were well upwards of 40 degree Celsius, even at night.

Both Jolliffe and Perez were making their Badwater debuts and here’s how it all played out…

Men’s race

Jolliffe produced a perfectly-paced race as he made history – biding his time in the first half of the race.

He was around half an hour off the lead at the halfway point and even at the 122-mile point it was still Tamás Bódis of Hungary who led the way, six minutes ahead of Jolliffe, who was running virtually alongside Perez, who was way ahead in the women’s race.

But it was soon after that everything changed as Jolliffe produced by far the quickest closing split.

That took him to the finish in a time of 20:53:41, becoming the only competitor to ever complete the event in under 21 hours.

Max Jolliffe wins Badwater 135 2026 — Max Jolliffe paced it perfectly [Photo credit: Badwater 135, courtesy of Adventure CORPS]

The previous record was 21:33:01, set by Yoshihiko Ishikawa of Japan in 2019.

Bódis was the second male to cross the line in 21:34:47.

Women’s race

All of which underlined Perez’s display as she finished second overall in a stunning new women’s record time of 21:05:32, nearly 40 minutes under the previous best of 21:44:35 set by Ashley Paulson (USA) in 2023.