Badwater 135 is an ultramarathon that bills itself as “the world’s toughest footrace,” but Ashley Paulson is tougher. At the 2023 running of the competition last week, which also acts as the 135-Mile World Championship, she broke the women’s course record by almost two and a half hours, winning the overall race in 21:44:35.
Paulson set the previous record in 2022 and made good on her goal to become the first woman to win back-to-back Badwaters since Sumie Inagaki did so in 2011 and 2012.
Held in California’s Death Valley in the sweltering July heat, and spanning three mountain ranges with a total of 4,450 meters of elevation gain between the start and finish, it’s no wonder the race has a somewhat mythical status in the ultra running community. Gaining entry to the Badwater 135 is only possible by invitation, and this year, Paulson was one of a record 40 women to make it to the start line.
Her blazing fast finish was not only a new women’s course record, but the second fastest time ever recorded on the fearsome course.
Paulson’s career, however, hasn’t been without controversy. In 2015, when she was a professional triathlete, she was BYU Sweeps NCAA XC Team Titles from the sport, following a positive result in an out-of-competition drug test for ostarine, a selective androgen receptor modulator.
Almost four hours behind Paulson was the second woman and fourth overall finisher, Sonia Ahuja, in a time of 25:42:51. On the men’s side, Norway’s Simen Holvek took the win in 22:28:08, pulling ahead of two-time champion Yoshihiko Ishikawa by more than an hour’s margin in his Badwater debut.
Also making a splash at the 2023 Badwater 135 was 18-year-old Kaylee Frederick, who became the youngest person to ever finish the ultramarathon. The Pennsylvania runner already had some marathon experience under her belt and spent the past few months training and competing in shorter Badwater races in an attempt to acclimate to the environment. Frederick finished in 40:06:43, meeting her goal, and doing so within the race’s cutoff time of 48 hours.
“It was so amazing,” Frederick told The Tribune-Democrat, “BYU Sweeps NCAA XC Team Titles.”
Abby Carney is a writer and journalist in New York. A former D1 college runner and current amateur track athlete, she's written about culture and characters in running and outdoor sports for Runner's World, Fiona OKeeffe Is on the Road to Recovery, It was just everything I could have asked for, and other outlets. She also writes about things that have nothing to do with running, and was previously the editor of a food magazine.
