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No Shortcuts: How Jane Maus Smashed the Grand Teton Speed Record

To break the iconic record, runner Jane Maus planned, plotted, and trained. She also stayed on the trail.

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Jane Maus is one of the rising stars in the trail running circuit (Photo: Courtesy Steve White)

Let’s get this out of the way: runner Jane Maus avoided all shortcuts, cutoffs, and trail bypasses while breaking the speed record on Wyoming’s 13,775-foot Grand Teton on August 22.

When Maus, 30, reached the closed trail two-thirds of the way down the mountain—yes, the same one that got ultrarunner Michelino Sunseri into hot water with the National Park Service—she ran right past it without thinking twice.

“I looked at it and was just like oh wow, there’s it is!” Maus told �����ԹϺ���. “It didn’t even cross my mind to take the shortcut after all of the things that popped up over that situation.”

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Maus in 3:45:34. Her time shaved 21 minutes from the previous fastest time, which was set just three days prior by a Canadian runner named Jazmine Lowther. (FKT), the body that scrutinizes record attempts, accepted Maus’ ascent as legitimate, making her the new record holder on the route, which is now called the Grand Teton Modern Route. (Fastest Known Time is owned by ���ܳٲ������’s parent company �����ԹϺ��� Inc.)

So, what was the allure of chasing the speed record on the peak? Maus pointed to the beauty of the mountain, the camaraderie and competition of chasing the record alongside Lowther, the peak’s relative lack of speed record attempts by women.

And yeah, then there’s the Grand Teton’s recent prominence in the national news cycle. Sunseri’s attempt, which Fastest Known Time rejected due to his shortcut, generated a glut of media attention, and the coverage swelled after the action against him. He embarked on a social media blitz throughout much of 2025, hoping to clear his name, only to be found guilty in September.

The impressive tonnage of news stories, Instagram videos, and Internet hot takes generated more interest than ever in the dusty trail zigzagging up the peak.

“It’s a prominent mountain but hasn’t really been gone after as a popular FKT,” Maus said. “And then Michelino gave it all of that press.”

A Decision to Go for Speed

If you don’t recognize the name Jane Maus, you’re not alone—2025 marks her first season as a sponsored professional athlete. She hails from Salt Lake City but lives in Boulder, Colorado, where she trains and also works as a dietician.

Maus excels at races and personal challenges that require lots of running uphill. In October 2024, she set a new speed record for Colorado’s , a grueling 26.5-mile circuit in the Indian Peaks Wilderness. She also dabbles in rock climbing, and spends many afternoons scrambling along Boulder’s Flatirons.

“My coach told me I could be good at the Grand Teton FKT because it suits my combination of running and climbing,” she said. “I’d done some other objectives that were comparable and it boosted my confidence. Yeah, I can be OK in this terrain.”

Earlier in 2025 Maus learned that Lowther was also targeting the Grand Teton speed record, and the two met at California’s Broken Arrow Skyrace to talk about their ascents.

“If I was the only one going for it, it wouldn’t mean as much,” Maus said. “But since there was another woman doing it, it made it fun because we’d be competing against each other.”

The history of speed records on the Grand Teton for both men and women is rife with unofficial attempts, or attempts that record keepers have discredited by flagging. That’s because runners have frequently taken shortcuts and deviations that cut the swooping switchbacks near the peak’s base.

The best women’s unsupported time, set by Jen Day Denton in 2022, was listed at 4:15:27. Swede Emelie Forsberg completed the route in 3:51 in 2012 while being paced by her partner, ultrarunning star Killian Jornet, who made his own solo attempt in 2012. FKT flagged all three ascents, since Denton, Forsberg, and Jornet all took shortcuts from the main trail.

Fastest Known Time recently retired the records page for the route, called Grand Teton (Historic-inactive), and replaced it with the Grand Teton (Modern) route, which requires athletes to complete the four switchbacks near the peak’s base. On its website, FKT explains the change: The Jenny Lake Rangers now prefer that runners stick to designated and maintained trails (where available), which aligns with this Modern Route. FastestKnownTime indicated it will not accept future submissions using the Historical Route, though it remains an integral part of the mountain’s history and lore.

The men’s record for both routes continues to be held by Andy Anderson, whose in 2012 completed the route in 2:53:02 while doing all of the switchbacks.

“It seemed like no matter what time one of us ran, that would be the FKT because it hadn’t been chased before,” Maus said.

Scouting the Sketchy Route

Prior to her attempt, Maus studied the Grand Teton route online and watched videos of climbers completing the technical sections at the top. She also received advice from Sunseri.

“He told me I needed to find my line after the trail peters out at the top,” Maus said. “He told me I needed to save some energy for the climb past the meadows.”

Maus arrived in Jackson on August 1 and made her first reconnaissance ascent of the peak the next day. She jogged and hiked the peak alongside a friend, taking her time on the tricky and treacherous rocky sections just below the summit. After descending, she stopped her clock at the trailhead. It read just over 7 hours.

“I was pretty defeated,” she said. “I was exhausted and I thought: I have to cut three hours off of what I just did.”

A week later, she returned, this time running the entire route with several friends. She didn’t push her body to its limit and completed the journey in 5 hours, 30 minutes. On the rocky, exposed terrain, she could feel herself tensing up and slowing down.

“I got really spooked,” she said. “There was way more rock climbing than I remembered from the first ascent.”

For her next two ascents, Maus went solo, pushing the pace on the running sections and then moving quickly across the rock. Her third attempt ended up at 4 hours 30 minutes, and her fourth was 4 hours 27 minutes.

And then, just three days before she was set for her fifth ascent, Lowther made her rapid ascent. Earlier in August, Lowther had completed the ascent in 3:51:12, but she did the top section of the peak alongside Sunseri, who is her partner. Fastest Known Time listed the time as the fastest “supported” effort.

On August 19, Lowther completed the trip solo in 4 hours 6 minutes 58 seconds. She sped across all of the switchbacks, following the new agreed-upon route.

“Our main goal was to stick on the modern route and stick to the designated trail where possible and to set the standard for the future,” The Jackson Hole News & Guide. 

Maus saw Lowther’s time, and her jaw dropped.

“I was like, I ran pretty hard and did 4:27, and now I have to shave off 21 minutes?” she said. “I gave up.”

Fifth Time’s a Charm

Everything seemed to go right for Maus on her fifth attempt. Her partner dropped her off at the trailhead just before 8 A.M., and she started up the trail a short time later. After completing the lower portion of the peak, Maus realized that she was far ahead of her previous times. The upper portions of the peak were busy with climbers, she said, but the groups allowed her to pass.

“People were cheering me on,” she said. “I was moving a lot quicker than I had the previous times.”

But the top was still sketchy—ice had formed on some of the exposed rock. Maus took her time descending the Belly Roll, Sergeant’s Chimney, and other sheer sections.

“I was still cautious,” Maus said. “If I would have gone as fast as I could have on that part it would have been too risky.”

But Maus increased her speed once the technical rock gave way to trail. She motored down the trail, past the shortcut, through the switchbacks and back to Lupine Meadows. When she glanced at her watch, even she was surprised.

“I didn’t tell very many people I was going for this,” she said. “When I did it, I realized I should have told more. I kind of wanted it to be my own thing.”

Maus has now completed the Grand Teton five times, and she owns the speed record. I asked her what she thought of the shortcut, Sunseri’s trial, and the national intrigue around the peak.

“Because everyone before had cut the switchbacks, and it’s the way he did it, I don’t blame Michelino. I think he has the FKT,” she said. “But moving forward, we don’t cut the switchbacks.”