Kenya’s Agnes Ngetich stormed to a women-only world record and Sweden’s Andreas Almgren kicked late for the win as an exciting pair of races closed the second day of action at the World Athletics Road Running Championships in Copenhagen on Sunday.
In the first race of the day as part of the larger Copenhagen Half Marathon, Ngetich quickly established her position early and grabbed a lead she would never surrender as she surged to a 1:05:15 win — and a massive minute and ten second margin.
Ngetich wasted little time working her way to the front shortly after the start and by the first kilometer, a sizable chase pack had already formed and struggled to keep up with her pace. At the 5km point, Ngetich crossed at 15:12 as her gap on the field widened.
As she approached the 15km mark, Ngetich was ahead of the pack by nearly a minute as the group held steady behind her in a battle to decide second and third place as Kenya’s Daisilah Jerono and Rwanda’s Florence Niyonkuru gave chase alongside Team USA’s Weini Kelati and a surging Emma Grace Hurley.
Still, Ngetich was unwilling to ease her attack despite the lead and crossed the line with a new record and affirmed a strong year that started off with her cross country world title in Tallahassee in January.
“After one kilometer, I was like, let me try to push the pace, because I saw an opportunity to get the world record,” Ngetich said. “When I reached 15 kilometers, I was so happy, because I got the feeling of ‘let me do this’, and there were only six kilometers left. Crossing the finish line with a world record by just one second was unbelievable.”
Teammate Veronica Loleo was second in 1:06:05 while Rwanda’s Florence Niyonkuru took third in 1:06:08.
The men’s race provided a dose of drama as Almgren needed every last stride to overtake Kenya’s Nicholas Kipkorir in the closing stages in his 58:06 victory.
A large lead group saw Team USA’s Conner Mantz bolt ahead early in the action as the front runners would change position seveal times and cross the 5km mark at 13:57 with Kenyans Nicholas Kipkorir, Gideon Rono and Daniel Ebenyo working together to glide through the course.
But by the 15km mark at 41:47 the fight for medals intensified as Almgren, Kipkorir, Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei and Ethiopia’s Tadese Worku shook off the lead pack and began their quest to decide who would take the podium. Worku would soon fade from the group as Kipkorir looked at make his decisive move and broke free as Almgren began to chase with just over 600 meters remaining.
Almgren struck in the closing moments and outkicked Kipkorir, who was unable to match and had to settle for second.
“It was not that hard for me to do the transition from being a track runner to becoming a road runner,” Almgren said. “It still feels kind of surreal that I have gone from 400m to half marathons. Ten years ago, we joked that maybe one day I would run a 5km race. Now I am world champion in the half marathon and I am going to have my marathon debut in New York in about a month. This gold medal is a very good sign for me, that I am doing something right.”
Kipkorir took second in 58:11 as Cheptegei finished third in 58:26.
Kenya won both team top prizes in the half marathon, with a combined men’s time at 2:56:30, while the women clocked 3:17:33 in total. Ethiopia took second in the men’s group at 2:59:47 and Team USA was third in 3:01:34. In the women’s race, Team USA was second in 3:19:51 and Ethiopia finished third in 3:22:40.
Women’s Elite Results
1. Agnes Ngetich (Kenya) – 1:05:15
2. Veronica Loleo (Kenya) – 1:06:05
3. Florence Niyonkuru (Rwanda) – 1:06:08
4. Daisilah Jerono (Kenya) – 1:06:13
5. Emma Grace Hurley (USA) – 1:06:23
6. Weini Kelati Frezghi (USA) – 1:06:35
7. Jessica McClain (USA) – 1:06:53
8. Ftaw Zeray (Ethiopia) – 1:07:07
9. Fatima Ezzahra Birdaha (Morocco) – 1:07:33
10. Esther Chebet (Uganda) – 1:07:38
Women’s team medalists
1. Kenya – 3:17:33
2. United States – 3:19:51
3. Ethiopia – 3:22:40
Men’s Elite Results
1. Andreas Almgren (Sweden) – 58:06
2. Nicholas Kipkorir (Kenya) – 58:11
3. Joshua Cheptegei (Uganda) – 58:26
4. Tadese Worku (Ethiopia) – 58:35
5. Gideon Rono (Kenya) – 58:57
6. Hani Idriss Hersi (Djibouti) – 59:09
7. Yemaneberhan Crippa (Italy) – 59:18
8. Alex Nzioka Matata (Kenya) – 59:22
9. Daniel Ebenyo (Kenya) – 59:42
10. Othmane El Goumri (Morocco) – 59:53
Men’s team medalists
1. Kenya – 2:56:30
2. Ethiopia – 2:59:47
3. United States – 3:01:34
