Kenya’s Agnes Ngetich stormed to a women-only world half marathon record of 1:05:15* to win her second global title of the year at the World Athletics Road Running Championships Copenhagen 26 on Sunday (20).
Dominating the race, she won by 50 seconds ahead of her teammate Veronica Loleo to add the world half marathon title to the world cross-country crown she claimed in Tallahassee in January.
Like in Tallahassee, Ngetich was a class apart. As she strode over the finish line, she took one second off the world record for a women-only race of 1:05:16 set by her compatriot Peres Jepchirchir when winning the world half marathon title in Gdynia in 2020.
Ngetich was aggressive from the start. She went straight to the front and was 10 seconds ahead by the 5km mark, which she reached in 15:12. She extended that advantage to 26 seconds ahead of an eight-strong chase pack by 10km, with 30:39 on the clock.
The gap grew again, to 53 seconds by 15km, reached by Ngetich in 46:17. Rwanda’s Florence Niyonkuru remained a strong member of the chase group, running alongside Kenya’s Daisilah Jerono and USA’s Emma Grace Hurley as they completed 15km in 47:10.
Ngetich forged ahead, hitting the 20km mark in 1:01:56, 51 seconds ahead of her rivals, and she held on to make history at the finish line, raising her arms in celebration as she crossed it with 1:05:15 on the clock.
Loleo secured silver in 1:06:05 and Niyonkuru claimed bronze in a national record of 1:06:08, five seconds ahead of Jerono.
*Subject to the usual ratification procedure
