Keegan Swenson wins fifth-straight Leadville Trail 100 MTB as Aspen skimo star finishes second
Aspen's John Gaston finished runner-up for the third-straight year as Swenson just missed his own course record
Life Time/Courtesy photo
All hail king Keegan.
Keegan Swenson won his fifth-straight Leadville Trail 100 MTB on Saturday, battling through headwinds, dry trails and poor air quality to post the second-fastest time ever at the iconic high-altitude race. The 31-year-old completed the 105.3-mile course in 5 hours, 45 minutes and 35 seconds, just two minutes off his course record from 2023.
“I mean, I always want to go faster, but stoked to get the win,” said Swenson, who came into the race hoping for a sub-5:40 time. Only John Gaston and Simon Pellaud were willing to follow his torrid pace up the opening St. Kevins ascent. The trio escaped from the rest of the peloton less than a half hour into the event and pushed each other through Twin Lakes right to the base of the infamous Columbine climb.
“It was a really good group on the way out,” Swenson said. “Three of us were riding; good cooperation and we were just trying to get to Columbine as quick as we could.”
Gaston — who is not part of the Life Time Grand Prix and only races a couple mountain bike races a year — was feeling the pace a bit more.
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“We did have a good thing,” he said to Swenson in the mixed zone after. “But for you (Swenson) that’s at or under threshold and I was so maxed out.”
“I love riding with you,” Gaston continued with a smile. “We are raging. But (I) really questioned my life choices.”
At the base of the 7.5-mile, 3,100-foot climb to the course’s high point and turnaround, Swenson instantly put a massive gap on both Pellaud and Gaston. He extended his lead to six minutes by the 12,500-foot top. Despite his climbing prowess, Swenson said he didn’t necessarily plan in advance to put things away at Columbine.
“Yes and no. I decide the pace I’m going to ride and there’s no — I’m not attacking. There’s no games,” the three-time Life Time Grand Prix overall champion said. “You only have what you have. I think everyone is just doing what (they) can do.”
Coming back into Twin Lakes, Gaston collided with a cameraman who picked a bad moment to cross the road along the high-speed descent.
“I tried yelling, but it was no chance,” said Gaston, who sported a bloody gash on his right hip and elbow. “I love live broadcast, but I have no love lost for the camera guy. I don’t understand, how can you cross a course as insanely high traffic as Leadville.”
Gaston not only clawed back to Pellaud, but pulled away from the former professional road rider on the trip up Powerline. Gaston wound up finishing in 6:00:51, eight minutes ahead of the Swiss star for his third-straight runner-up finish.
Most of the top-10 finishers sported drop bars on either full-suspension or hard tail mountain bikes. The hybrid style — and wide tires — are both recent trends in the gravel scene. While Swenson set the record with standard handlebars in 2023, he put drop bars on his hard tail for the 2024 victory. He used drop bars on a full-suspension steed on Saturday. The more aggressive position — along with Rock Shox’s prototype ‘Black Box’ aerodynamic front fork fairings — helped him cut through the wind on his solo return trip back to Turquoise Lake.
“That’s all I can tell you,” his mechanic, Myron Billy, said regarding the unique component, which Swenson tested for the first time this week. “Whatever Rock Shox decides to give us, (we) give it a whirl and see how it goes.”
How much does it help?
“We can look at the numbers, but this course compared to last year’s course compared to when he broke the record — everything is all different,” Billy said. “So, who knows.”
While 2023 overcast skies and a slight drizzle set up fast, tacky trails, the recent dry spell and smoke from nearby wildfires was palpable at the start line.
“The air quality wasn’t good. Didn’t love that,” Swenson said. “It doesn’t help.”
“It was super smoky,” added Bighorn Champion Cobe Freeburn, who finished 15th in his Leadville 100 debut. “It was awful.”
After claiming victories at the GoPro Mountain Games and Silver Rush 50 MTB and competing at Steamboat Gravel, Freeburn said he may have been just a little overcooked coming into the Leadville 100.
“I was definitely hoping for more,” he said. “I was surprised with how hard they went at the start. Just never quite had the little bit extra that I needed — both at the start and Columbine.”
When asked whether he can take more meat off the course-record bone, Swenson said tinkering with new tech is maybe not the most critical variable.
“I mean at this point I think it’s just weather,” he said. “And of course I can always be stronger and fitter but I think the fitness is good; the wind just didn’t cooperate today and the course was super dry. The descents were slower — definitely lost some time there. (I) was as playing it safe. You know it’s better to lose a few seconds than to crash.”
