Non-Binary 11K: Van Gorden goes wire-to-wire — and turns last year's bronze into gold

• Elio van Gorden (1:18:56, 11:33/mi) led at every checkpoint and closed with the fastest Snow King→Finish split in the group — after taking 3rd here in 2025 (1:20:34), a 1:38 improvement and a two-spot climb to the top.
• Ben Nannini, 54, ran 2nd in 1:29:24, moving 3rd→2nd late on the strength of the group's 2nd-fastest finishing split.
• Levi Shea (1:33:15) was the field's biggest mover, climbing 5th→4th→3rd behind the fastest Olympic Valley East→Snow King split in the group.
• Samuel Goldberg (1:39:27) sat 2nd through two checkpoints before fading to 4th over the closing stretch.

Racing at roughly 6,200–7,500 feet with cool 59°F air and barely a breath of wind, the ten non-binary finishers got a fair fight from the conditions — the thin air was the only real adversary. Elio van Gorden never gave anyone a chance to test it: 1st at every split, then the group's fastest run from Snow King to the line, sealing the win by 10:28 at 11:33/mi. The redemption arc is the story here — 3rd in this race in 2025, champion in 2026, nearly two minutes quicker on the clock.

Behind the front, the podium was decided on the mountain's second half. Ben Nannini, at 54 the elder statesman of the group, bided his time in 3rd before uncorking the 2nd-fastest closing split to snatch the runner-up spot in 1:29:24. Levi Shea's race was pure momentum: 5th early, then the fastest Olympic Valley East→Snow King split in the field carried him all the way to 3rd in 1:33:15.

Shea's surge came at Samuel Goldberg's expense. Goldberg, 21, held 2nd through two checkpoints — and even posted the 3rd-fastest split on the Olympic Valley East climb — but the final descent bit hard, and he crossed 4th in 1:39:27. Brooke Lyons-Justus made him work for it, closing with the group's 4th-fastest finishing split to take 5th in 1:41:41, just 2:14 back.

The rest of the field ground it out at altitude: Kenji Chang took 6th in 1:46:36, Christiana Munoz 7th in 1:55:13, Lauren Baker — the lone Portlander in a Bay-heavy field — 8th in 1:58:42, Morgan Bartholomew 9th in 2:00:19, and Vivien Bernardo finished the job in 10th at 2:48:49.