Kaci Lickteig

About

Kaci Lickteig is an American professional ultrarunner and physical therapist from Omaha, Nebraska, nicknamed the Pixie Ninja for her diminutive build and ferocious competitive spirit. Growing up in the small farming town of Dannebrog, Nebraska, she could not finish her first high school race without walking but gradually fell in love with running alongside her mother. After earning her Doctor of Physical Therapy degree, she turned to ultrarunning in 2012 and won her first ultra outright, then won her next eight races in succession. Her defining performance came at the 2016 Western States 100, where she finished in 17:57:58, the third-fastest women's time in the race's 40-year history, and was named UltraRunning Magazine's Female Ultrarunner of the Year for winning seven races and outright beating all genders in three of them. She has competed at UTMB Mont-Blanc (10th), Transgrancanaria, and the JFK 50 Mile, and has won the Arkansas Traveller 100 multiple times. Her career has been marked by extraordinary resilience: she has overcome dual pelvic stress fractures and hamstring reattachment surgery to continue racing at the sport's highest level. A practising DPT and coach, she embodies the amateur-to-elite pathway that defines American ultrarunning culture.

Notable Wins

• — Western States 100 2016 (17:57:58
• — third-fastest women's time in race history)
• — 2016 UltraRunning Magazine Female Ultrarunner of the Year
• — Arkansas Traveller 100 (multiple wins)
• — USATF 50-Mile Road National Championships 2014

Upcoming Races

Race History