2026 World Road Running Championships: Agnes Ngetich and Andreas Almgren rule the half marathon in Copenhagen

Same recipe as in New York in March, opposite result. Agnes Ngetich went hard from the gun, alone out front, and this time nobody could answer. From 13th in New York to the top step of the world podium, the Kenyan completed the half marathon at the World Road Running Championships in Copenhagen in 1:05:15, a women-only world record, one second faster than compatriot Peres Jepchirchir ran in 2020 in Gdynia, Poland. The setting fit the script. The course followed that of the Copenhagen Half Marathon in 2024 and 2025: flat, fast and finishing in Fælledparken, close to Parken Stadium. A record-breaking playground, and the athletes delivered.

Agnes Ngetich gets New York right this time

Agnes Ngetich had not forgotten what happened in New York. A reckless start, 13th place, the only blemish on a season launched by a world cross-country title in Tallahassee in January. At 9:10 a.m. in Copenhagen, among the 111 women on the start line, the Kenyan did exactly the same thing again. The Keiyo native moved to the front within the opening metres, ahead of a pack in which the Kenyans, Ethiopians and Ugandans watched one another, and left nobody else to set the pace.

After 3 km, the 25-year-old rocket shifted up a gear. Ten seconds clear at 5 km, 53 at 15 km, with the chasing pack coming apart as the gap grew. Nobody was wondering whether she would win anymore, only whether she would also break the women-only world record. The winner of last July’s Monaco 3000 m race passed 20 km in 1:01:56, with the history books wide open in front of her. It took 1:05:15 to write her name into them. One second better than Jepchirchir, just one, but it carries plenty of weight.

Behind the boss, the real race

While the Kenyan pulled away, the other race was unfolding behind her, much more tightly. Fighting for silver, Veronica Loleo waited until the final metres to pass Rwanda’s Florence Niyonkuru (1:06:05 to 1:06:08), who took consolation in bronze and a national record. Kenya’s Daisilah Jerono (4th, 1:06:13) completed a quartet separated by eight seconds, with three Americans right behind. Emma Grace Hurley (5th, personal best), Weini Kelati Frezghi (6th) and Jessica McClain (7th, personal best) secured team silver for the United States behind Kenya.

The standings had casualties too. Ethiopia’s Tsigie Gebreselama, third at 5 km, finished 18th. Kenya’s Lilian Kasait Rengeruk, seventh at the same point, ended up 34th. Belgium’s Chloé Herbiet, the reigning European half-marathon champion, took 19th. The world record was not the only mark to fall, either. Seven national records were broken, by Niyonkuru, Morocco’s Fatima Ezzahra Birdaha (9th), Canada’s Jadyn Keeler (16th), Eritrea’s Dolshi Tesfu (26th), Peru’s Sheyla Eulogio Paucar (28th), surprising Uruguayan Julia Paternain (36th), who won marathon bronze at last year’s Tokyo Worlds, and Austria’s Julia Mayer (37th).

Mekdes Woldu leads France’s pack

For France, the race unfolded as a group effort. At 5 km, all four Frenchwomen were within two seconds of one another, before national record-holder Mekdes Woldu (1:08:19) moved to the front of the quartet. The record did not fall. France’s team leader finished 22nd in 1:09:17, ahead of compatriots Alessia Zarbo (31st, 1:10:24, season’s best), Margaux Sieracki (33rd, 1:10:27) and Mélody Julien (58th, 1:12:39). Europe’s top nation, France finished sixth in the team standings in 3:30:08, 13 seconds behind Canada but more than seven minutes off the podium.

Andreas Almgren waits, then strikes

At 9:45 a.m., the men took over, and nobody wanted to make the first move. The pack enjoyed the luxury of staying together, like a family portrait in which every favourite had made sure to show up. At 5 km, ten runners were separated by a second or so, including Kenyans Nicholas Kipkorir, Gideon Rono, Daniel Ebenyo and Alex Nzioka Matata, Ethiopians Tadese Worku and Bereket Nega, Djibouti’s Hani Idriss Hersi, Italy’s Yemaneberhan Crippa, American Conner Mantz, who had shown the way, and Sweden’s Andreas Almgren, quiet but always well placed. Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei was close behind, ready to turn up the pressure.

Etienne Daguinos sees his dream shattered

And in the middle of that armada, one Frenchman held his own. Etienne Daguinos, European 5000 m bronze medallist this summer and the author of a 59:27 in Berlin in March, passed 10 km in 11th place, on the pace for the French record held by Franco-Swiss runner Julien Wanders (59:13) since 2019. Anything was possible. Then, just after that, came the fall. Heavy and inexplicable at first. The US Talence athlete hit the ground, and the record went down with him. He got back up, moved through 18th at 15 km, then finished 64th in 1:03:08. No clear explanation, and plenty of regrets.

A three-way fight for gold

Up front, the pack was down to four at 15 km, with Kipkorir, Almgren, Worku and Cheptegei running together. Then the race became a three-way tug-of-war. Cheptegei eventually let go, leaving Almgren and Kipkorir alone, shoulder to shoulder. That was where the Swede’s finishing speed changed everything.

There was logic to this almost home victory. Last October, the Scandinavian became the first European to break 59 minutes for the half marathon, running 58:41 in Valencia. At 31, Almgren followed that up this year with a European 10 km record of 26:45, since broken by Yann Schrub, and the European 10,000 m title this summer. He is also set to make his marathon debut in New York on 1 November. The Swedish machine covered the 21.0975 kilometres in 58:06, taking 35 seconds off his own European record. Kipkorir, the season’s fastest man at 58:08 and last year’s Copenhagen Half Marathon winner, had to surrender his crown by five seconds.

A pack blown apart at speed

The rest of the standings told the story of a morning of records. Cheptegei, the world-record holder over 5000 m and 10,000 m, took bronze in 58:26, 55 seconds faster than his previous best of 59:21. Behind the leading trio, the pack shattered, but at the right speed. Ethiopia’s Tadese Worku took fourth in a personal best of 58:35, ahead of Kenya’s Gideon Rono (5th, 58:57) and Djibouti’s Hani Idriss Hersi, who set a national record for his country (6th, 59:09). Italy’s Yemaneberhan Crippa (7th, 59:18) and Kenyans Alex Nzioka Matata (8th, 59:22) and Daniel Ebenyo (9th, 59:42) followed, before Morocco’s Othmane El Goumri (10th, 59:53, personal best) closed out the very exclusive club of ten men under the hour. A little farther back, American Conner Mantz, returning from injury, finished 12th (1:00:08). The national-record celebrations continued with Dane Jacob Sommer Simonsen, on home soil (16th, 1:00:46), and Slovenia’s Jan Kokalj (42nd, 1:01:57). In the team standings, Kenya claimed the title in 2:56:30 ahead of Ethiopia (2:59:47) and the United States (3:01:34).

France, led by Bastien Augusto, takes ninth

Down one of their number in the finale, France stuck together. Bastien Augusto led the team home in 18th in 1:01:04, ahead of compatriots Victor Boudin (28th, 1:01:36) and Baptiste Guyon (51st, 1:02:25), while Daguinos, 64th after his fall, watched the overall calculation from afar. Because the team score is based on three runners, his 1:03:08 did not count. The trio lifted France to ninth in the team standings in 3:05:05, 12 seconds behind Canada, ten seconds ahead of Tanzania and 3:31 off the podium. That made France the top European nation of the morning, ahead of Great Britain (12th, 3:06:47) and Italy (13th, 3:07:14).

Six races, six nations

With this final result, the Copenhagen World Road Running Championships closed out their six races with six winners from six different countries. France’s Agathe Guillemot opened the programme with a European record in the mile, followed by Germany’s Robert Farken. Ethiopia’s Likina Amebaw and Eritrea’s Dawit Seare took over in the 5 km, before Kenya’s Agnes Ngetich and Sweden’s Andreas Almgren brought the curtain down on the half marathon. Two European records, a women-only world record, and tens of thousands of recreational runners taking to the same streets just minutes after the elites. For France, the weekend will be remembered for Guillemot’s title and Flavien Szot’s French record in the road mile, but also for Jimmy Gressier’s cruel 5 km and Daguinos’ fall.