Zersenay Tadese, the dominant force in men’s half-marathon running for almost a decade, was finally run out of the medals here at the IAAF/AL-Bank World Half Marathon Championships as he finished fourth in a race won by Kenya’s Geoffrey Kamworor in 59:08, the world’s fastest time this year.But the twist in the tale was that Tadese, after earning six consecutive silvers for Eritrea in the team event, finally got his hands on a team gold thanks to the additional efforts of Samuel Tsegay, who won the battle with Ethiopia’s Guye Adola to take silver in a personal best of 59:21, and Nguse Amlosom, fifth in 1:00:00. Adola earned bronze in a personal best of 59:21.Kenya, team gold medallists on the past six occasions, had to settle for silver this time around, with bronze going to Ethiopia.While much was made beforehand of the challenge the multiple Eritrean champion faced from Wilson Kiprop, who was returning to the event for the first time since winning the individual title in 2010, it was Kiprop’s colleague Kamworor who proved strongest on a day of bright sunshine and a welcome breeze.Thus Tadese’s medal-winning sequence – five golds and a silver in the previous six runnings of this event – was brought to an end as he finished fourth in 59:38, faster than his winning times from 2008 and 2012. He also earned the distinction of a record ninth appearance at these championships.The medal winners had effectively separated themselves by the 15km mark, with Kamworor driving ahead and Tsegay tracking him, a few metres ahead of the Ethiopian. At one point Tsegay strained round to try to gauge how far behind his famous fellow runner in the pale blue shirt was. But the gap was too much to make up, and Tsegay, whose previous best at these championships was a fifth place, concentrated on maximising his own performance.The early lead had been taken by the Japanese through Kenta Murayama, Hiroto Inoue and Masato Kikuchi, but it was only a matter of time before the Kenyan, Ethiopian and Eritrean runners massed just behind them started to shape the main race.By the five kilometres mark Tadese had moved into the lead, with his fellow Eritreans Tsegay and Amlosom running at his shoulder, with Moses Kibet of Uganda also showing well.The Kenyans soon responded, however, and within another kilometre they had established themselves in the lead through Kamworor and Kiprop, with Tadese just a stride behind the latter in the centre of the leading group, and a rank of Ethiopian shirts also in contention.At the 12km mark the leading group of six had broken clear – Tadese, Tsegay, Amlosom of Eritrea, running closely together, Kamworor and Kiprop, and Adola.But as Kamworor continued to drive up the pace from the front, six soon became three, and the only remaining question was which order the three leaders would assume on the podium.Tsegay eventually won the battle for silver with Adola and looked pleased enough as he crossed the line, skipping and punching the air with a broad grin on his face before turning to await his labouring compatriot, whom he briefly embraced.Tadese, sweat beading on his brow and shoulders rolling with effort, came home in a time that was more than a minute slower than the world record of 58:23 he set in Lisbon four years ago. Kiprop finished a second behind Amlosom in sixth place, clocking 1:00:01.The last time Tadese had finished outside the top three in a half marathon was as a 21-year-old, 11 years ago. His last defeat to a fellow Eritrean was back in 2002 at the World Half Marathon Championships in Brussels.Eritrea’s team title brought Tadese’s medal tally at the World Half Marathon Championships to a record 13, six of them gold.The silver and bronze medallists were not the only ones to break their personal bests on the flat and fast course around the city centre – 13 of the first 20 men home ran faster than they had ever done before.Mike Rowbottom for the IAAF

Zersenay Tadese, the dominant force in men’s half-marathon running for almost a decade, was finally run out of the medals here at the IAAF/AL-Bank World Half Marathon Championships as he finished fourth in a race won by Kenya’s Geoffrey Kamworor in 59:07, the world’s fastest time this year.

Kamworor surprises Tadese – IAAF/AL-Bank World Half Marathon Championships

A day before the IAAF/AL-Bank World Half Marathon Championships start, the organisers of the event in Copenhagen have already found themselves on top of the podium.Speaking on the eve of Saturday’s race, which will combine 228 elite athletes with a mass participation field of about 30,000, the IAAF President Lamine Diack announced that Copenhagen would be the first winners of the Athletics Better World award, given to mark excellence in social responsibility.“In less than two weeks, the IAAF will officially launch a new social responsibility project called Athletics Better World, which aims to show the world that the IAAF and our sport has the power to change the world with initiatives in health, environment, social inclusion and peace,” the President told journalists at the official pre-event press conference.“I would like to commend the organisers for a number of initiatives they have taken in this regard, which means that I am delighted to announce that Copenhagen 2014 will be the first ever IAAF World Athletics Series event to receive the ‘Athletics Better World’ IAAF stamp of approval.”The President said he was delighted that there were 57 member federations and 228 athletes entered – “the highest number since 1998” – and described Copenhagen 2014 as “a very special edition” of the World Half Marathon Championships, adding: “The event will offer a unique mix of the world’s best elite athletes and 30,000 recreational runners who will ‘Run With The Champions’. “The stars of our sport and normal citizens can now be heroes together. This event offers a new model for future organisers, allowing cities not only to reap the promotional benefits of staging a world championships but to directly connect people to it – all training for and taking part in the mass race.“It’s a win-win situation for local organisers, the IAAF and the sport of road running. I am confident it will lead to increased interest in hosting the championships and a boost to the overall profile of the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships as a global sporting festival.“The mass participation race, like the elite races, will start and finish in front of the Danish Parliament. This shows the commitment of the Danish authorities, and especially his Royal Highness the Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, an IOC member since 2009, who is fully behind this event as well.”The President was encouraging when asked whether Denmark, for whom this is a first in terms of hosting a world championship athletics event, might hope in future for other world championship events such as the IAAF World Indoor Championships, which were held earlier this month in Sopot, Poland.“We know this country,” he said. “We know that in this part of the world, athletics is a sport you like very much. We are absolutely sure that if there is an indoor event – if it is what we expect – we are very pleased and proud to come. This year everyone says ‘Where is Sopot?’ But everyone knows where is Copenhagen.”Karsten Munkvad, president of the Danish Athletics Federation, commented: “We are very proud that the Danish Federation and partners have been given the opportunity to host these championships.”Jakob Larsen, chief executive of the Danish Federation and of the Local Organising Committee, added: “We will see what is in our opinion a festival, a joint family of athletes. We think we have the right event for the right place with the right programmes. These are fancy words, which mean that no matter what happens tomorrow, we will have a joint family of 228 of the best athletes running with 30,000 recreational runners.“This is special because the IAAF has opened the doors to a world championship, a unique occasion. Imagine that in any other sport. Tomorrow we will have a family from the world champions to the last ones crossing the finish line. They will experience the same course, the same thrills, joy and excitement.“The weather is with us. Last year at the same time there was quite a lot of snow in the streets of Copenhagen!”Asked where the idea came from for incorporating a mass participation race in Copenhagen, Larsen replied that the idea had occurred to organisers after witnessing the 2011 World Cycling Championships held in Copenhagen. “We inspected the venue, and it occurred to us – what if ordinary people could take part and take advantage of the very spectacular settings?“At our first meeting with the IAAF it was like we both came to the table with the same idea – ‘Why don’t we do this?’ So a success has many fathers, assuming tomorrow will be a success.”Asked to explain the difference between this year’s mass start and previous occasions, such as 1992 in Newcastle and 2008 in Rio, when there has also been a mass participation element to these championships, the IAAF General Secretary Essar Gabriel responded:“There have been initiatives of that sort in the past. The difference is in the level of integration of the race for the elite and the mass of recreational runners. They will literally be starting at the gun in the same race.“The second reason is the magnitude of having 30,000 people who are joining forces with the elite to look to have the same experience. With that comes the organisation, which has been extremely well concluded to bring these two parts together. The sponsors have also worked hard on this, so it is a pioneering event in this respect.”Mike Rowbottom for the IAAF

A day before the IAAF/AL-Bank World Half Marathon Championships start, the organisers of the event in Copenhagen have already found themselves on top of the podium.

Copenhagen 2014 are first to get IAAF Athletics Better World award, President Diack announces

Wilson Kipketer, official ambassador to the IAAF/AL-Bank World Half Marathon Championships, has described the flat and scenic course in Copenhagen, which starts and finishes in front of the National Parliament, as &ldquo;the perfect setting for making personal bests.&rdquo;
If Denmark&rsquo;s former 800m world record-holder and champion is right, there could be a world record to celebrate on 29 March, given the participation of the man who has become this event&rsquo;s paramount performer in the space of the past decade &ndash; Eritrea&rsquo;s Zersenay Tadese.
Having earned his first gold medal in 2006 when the event switched &ndash; for one year only &ndash; to a 20km race (and took the title of the IAAF World Road Running Championships, which it kept for one more year when the event reverted back to the half marathon distance in 2007), he has now amassed an unprecedented five individual titles.
To put that achievement in context, the list of winners since the event began in Newcastle upon Tyne in 1992 includes Olympic champions such as Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia, Khalid Skah of Morocco and Stefano Baldini of Italy, as well as former world 10,000m champion Moses Tanui of Kenya, the first man to run a half marathon in less than an hour.
But other than Tadese, only one man has won more than one individual gold medal&nbsp;&ndash; Kenya&rsquo;s Paul Tergat, who was victorious in 1999 and 2000.
If Tadese is to rise to Kipketer&rsquo;s verbal challenge, it will mean eclipsing the mark of 58:23 he ran in Lisbon four years ago to beat Sammy Wanjiru&rsquo;s then world record by 10 seconds.
Should he slip off that testing schedule, however, the championship record of 58:59 he set in winning the second of his five golds in 2007 could still be under threat.
However, the defending champion himself will be under threat in Copenhagen from the presence of the Kenyan who interrupted his run of victories by beating him into second place four years ago in Nanning &ndash; Wilson Kiprop.
To date, that victory in China remains Kiprop&rsquo;s greatest achievement in the sport, but he has gone on record as saying he is &ldquo;very determined&rdquo; to win the gold again in Copenhagen, and &ldquo;confident&rdquo; about his training.
Kiprop&nbsp;&ndash; who at 26 is six years younger than his Eritrean rival&nbsp;&ndash; believes that he has three other reasons for confidence.
Firstly, 2010 marked the first year he ran the distance faster than an hour, something he has since managed five times, with a best of 59:15. Secondly, he is a more experienced runner. And thirdly, well, he already knows what if takes to win this title, doesn&rsquo;t he?
Kiprop commented recently about Tadese&rsquo;s dominance in this event: "Sometimes much attention is given to other athletes and then a new one emerges during the race and wins it." It holds true for himself, of course.
Behind the two leading men, there will be an eager pack of contenders waiting to emerge, with Tadese&rsquo;s Eritrean colleague Nguse Amsolom looking particularly dangerous given his performance in last month&rsquo;s event in Ras Al Khaimah, where a record eight men ran faster than an hour. His second-place finish in 59:39, three seconds behind winner Lelisa Desisa of Ethiopia and six seconds ahead of Kiprop, is also the second fastest of 2014.
A third Eritrean runner, Samuel Tsegaye, has huge experience, having finished fifth at the 2010 championships, where he helped his country earn the team silver medals.
Kenyan team looking for seventh successive team gold
Kenya, as ever, has talent in depth. Alongside Kiprop, they will field Robert Kwemoi Chemosin, Simon Cheprot, Geoffrey Kipsang and Kenneth Kiprop Kipkemoi, all of whom have broken the hour for the half marathon. Even their reserve, Cyprian Kimurgor Kotut, has run faster than 60 minutes.
The 21-year-old Kipsang, winner of the IAAF World Cross Country Championships junior men&rsquo;s title in 2011, was the fastest man in the world at the distance last year thanks to his 58:54 win in Ras Al Khaimah.
Japan&rsquo;s Kenta Murayama, second at Marugame on 2 February, may also fancy his chances of making the podium.
With Desisa absent, Ethiopia&rsquo;s challenge could be led by Guye Adola, who won at Marrakech on 26 January in 1:01:26. Ethiopia, too, boast strength in depth with a squad which includes Adugna Tekele (a personal best of 1:00:35), Tebalu Zawude (1:00:33) and 18-year-old Bonsa Diba (1:01:53).
US hopes will rest with the Kenyan-born Josphat Boit, who ran a personal best of 1:01:41 at this year&rsquo;s US Championships, and Tyler Pennel, who finished eight seconds behind him.
While Kiprop will be seeking to extend the Kenyans&rsquo; historic domination of the individual race &ndash; where they have won 10 titles &ndash; he is also aiming to help his country earn a seventh successive team gold, with Eritrea and Ethiopia looking the most likely challengers to that ambition.
"We want it just to be like the 2010 outing where we won both the individual as well as the team gold medals," he said.
Kipketer, meanwhile, is preparing to race alongside huge numbers of his fellow countrymen in the mass participation race that will take place as part of the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships men&rsquo;s race, involving about 25,000 runners in temperatures predicted to be about a favourable 9&deg;C.
Mike Rowbottom for the IAAF

Wilson Kipketer, official ambassador to the IAAF/AL-Bank World Half Marathon Championships, has described the flat and scenic course in Copenhagen, which starts and finishes in front of the National Parliament, as “the perfect setting for making personal bests.”

Tadese going for unprecedented sixth win. Men’s preview – IAAF/AL-Bank World Half Marathon Championships

The relatively novel aspects of this year&rsquo;s IAAF/AL-Bank World Half Marathon Championships in Copenhagen &ndash; only the second time in the event&rsquo;s history that it is being held in the spring, and only the second time that the championship race also incorporates a mass participation event following the very first version on Tyneside in 1992 &ndash; are likely to be counterbalanced in the women&rsquo;s race by a return to business as usual on Saturday.
The dominance of Kenya&rsquo;s women at these championships does not quite match that of their men, and they failed to live up to their billing of favourites two years ago in the Bulgarian city of Kavarna, but they have nevertheless been the best-performing nation over the past 20 years, amassing five individual wins &ndash; including a Tegla Loroupe hat-trick from 1997-99 &ndash; and eight team victories.
This year&rsquo;s talent-packed team is headed by 30-year-old Lucy Wangui Kabuu, whose 1:06.09 personal best in Ras Al Khaimah last year made her the fastest woman on a record-legal half-marathon course in 2013 and joint sixth on the all-time listings. She looks more than ready to reclaim the honours from their perennial rivals Ethiopia, who virtually cleaned up at the last running of these championships in Kavarna, Bulgaria two years ago, taking the team title and the individual gold and silver.
Neither the champion nor the silver medallist of 2012, Meseret Hailu and Feyse Tadese, will be in Copenhagen but even if they were, it is hard to see them withstanding the renewed onslaught of the Kenyans, despite the fact that they will be without the services of Florence Kiplagat, who set a world half marathon record (pending ratification) of 1:05:12 in Barcelona last month.
Kabuu has vast international experience, and won the 10,000m gold medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
Following her switch to the roads in 2011, she has won all but one of her five half marathons, earning victories at the Great North Run and the Delhi Half Marathon, but this will be her first appearance at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships.
Strength in depth
She is joined by world 10,000m silver medallist Gladys Cherono, who set a personal best of 1:06:48 in winning at Prague last year.
Mary Wacera Ngugi has a personal best of 1:10:32, but that could be due to revision following her recent win at the World&rsquo;s Best 10k in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where she finished more than a minute clear of a top-class field which included Cherono in a time of 32:06, a personal best by almost two minutes.
Kenya can also call upon World Championships 10,000m finalist Sally Chepyego, who is based in Japan and won their effective national trials for these championships, the Okayama Half Marathon on Christmas Eve last year, in 1:08:24.
The fifth and last runner, Mercy Jerotich Kibarus, who has stepped up from the reserve position to replace Kiplagat, has a personal best of 1:08:18.
Given those statistics, it is hard to see either the Ethiopians, or what looks like a hugely consistent Japanese team, matching Kenya.
Ethiopia&rsquo;s effort looks like being headed by Netsanet Gudeta, the 23-year-old who finished third in this month&rsquo;s Rome-Ostia Half Marathon in 1:08:53, and 22-year-old Genet Yalew, the 2011 world junior cross-country silver medallist and winner of last month&rsquo;s national trial in Addis Ababa, where she clocked 1:10:58 on her debut at the distance.
Japan among the team medals again?
Japanese women have won only three individual medals in the history of these championships, all silver and in the 1990s, but their record in the team event has been outstanding and consistent as they have claimed one gold (1992), five silvers (1993, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2003) and eight bronzes, including six out of the past seven.
The safest bet of the championships? Japan&rsquo;s women for a team medal; and it looks most likely they will be returning to silver rather than bronze in Copenhagen given the overall consistency of a team headed by 19-year-old Reia Iwade, who clocked 1:09:45 behind Chepyego in Okahama, and whose other four members all have personal bests faster than 1:11.
Other leading challengers for individual and team medals could be China, whose representatives include Yingying Zhang, who ran both the 5000m and 10,000m as an 18-year-old at the 2008 Olympic Games, having set a world junior best of 2:22:38 in winning the Xiamen Marathon.
Zhang took a four-year break from the sport in 2009 but returned to run 2:31:19 at last year&rsquo;s Beijing Marathon.
Italy are also to be reckoned with, fielding two-time winner of the Rome-Ostia half marathon, Anna Incerti, and Valeria Straneo, the 37-year-old who earned a marathon silver at last year&rsquo;s World Championships in Moscow.
US interest will be directed towards the 30-year-old Annie Bersagel, who won last year&rsquo;s national marathon title in 2:30.53.
Mike Rowbottom for the IAAF

The relatively novel aspects of this year’s IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Copenhagen – only the second time in the event’s history that it is being held in the spring, and only the second time that the championship race also incorporates a mass participation event following the very first version on Tyneside in 1992 – are likely to be counterbalanced in the women’s race by a return to business as usual on Saturday.

Kenya hope to prevail in Copenhagen. Women’s preview – IAAF/AL-Bank World Half Marathon Championships

Zersenay Tadese will set out on the streets of Copenhagen in tomorrow’s IAAF/AL-Bank World Half Marathon Championships seeking to extend his unprecedented run of individual success in this event.The 32-year-old Eritrean has won five golds and a silver on the past six occasions, but he acknowledges he faces a strong challenge this year from the Kenyan who won the title in 2010, Wilson Kiprop.“I have prepared well,” he told the official pre-event press conference at the Old Stock Exchange in the Danish capital. “I will try to do my best, although the Kenyans they are very strong.”He will win himself another athletics honour simply by starting tomorrow by making a record ninth appearance at these championships, moving one ahead of Belgium’s Ronny Ligniel, Russia’s Alina Ivanova and Romanian trio Nuta Olaru, Constantina Dita and Luminita Talpos. But Tadese was giving little away on the subject of how he will set about his latest challenge.“My tactics will depend on the conditions,” he said. “This is what my coach has told me. I have two or three tactics – but we will see in the race!”Tadese reacted cautiously to the suggestion that the flat and fast course here might witness a world record, for which there is a $50,000 bonus on offer for both men and women. Asked about the prospects of beating the mark of 58:23 he set in winning the 2010 Lisbon Half Marathon, Tadese responded: “For this race they don’t have pacemakers, so it depends on the athletes. The athletes are coming here for a win, not the time.”Kiprop made it clear that he was certainly expecting a win, both in the individual and the team event, where Kenya has taken gold on the past six occasions.“The team is actually very strong,” he said. “If we work together it will be more similar to 2010 when Kenya won the title.”Kiprop, who missed the 2012 edition of this event because of injury, added: “I have trained really well.“It was really amazing to win and beat the King of the Half Marathon in 2010,” he said with a grin. “It was a big motivation to me. The race tomorrow will be very tough, very competitive because Zersenay has prepared very well and I have prepared very well also.”Kiprop acknowledged that he has found inspiration in the efforts of his two fellow Kenyans: Paul Tergat, who is the only man other than Tadese to have won this title more than once, and current world marathon record-holder Wilson Kipsang.“Both of them add to my motivation,” he said. “They are people we are looking up to.”Tadese may have performed almost perfectly at the half marathon, but while he clearly loves the event, he stops short of describing it as his perfect distance.“I like the half marathon very much, but the marathon is another way,” he said. "For the future, I want to do a marathon." The Eritrean has a respectable marathon best of 2:10:41, set at the London Marathon two years ago, but has yet to translate his successes at the half marathon to the longer event.Kiprop, who as a marathon best of 2:09:09, set in Prague in 2010, is also keeping his options open with regard to other distances.“For me I can also run the marathon because I have already run 2:09. After these World Championships I will start to prepare for my next marathon.“But I am always ready to go back and run shorter distances. When I say I am preparing for the marathon, it doesn’t mean I close the possibilities of going to the track. For me, I am ready to run anywhere!”While Kenya and Ethiopia look likely to do battle for the main honours in the women’s race – and Japan and China also looking ready to profit – the Italian team is looking towards the athlete who won silver in the marathon at last year’s IAAF World Championships in Moscow, Valeria Straneo, to challenge for a medal.The 37-year-old Italian athlete, who will turn 38 next month, made her first worldwide impact in the Russian capital with a bold, front-running effort in which she was only overtaken during the closing stages by Kenya’s Edna Kiplagat.But do not expect a similar front-running effort tomorrow.Asked about her prospects of becoming the first European-born winner of this race since Constantina Tomescu of Romania in 2005, Straneo commented: “I just run in my sensation and try to keep a regular pace for all the race. And so tomorrow I will be regular. I don’t like to be fast and slow. I think for me it’s better to be regular. I hope for the last kilometre to be faster!“It depends on the other girls – if they start too fast I don’t think I would be in front of them. I’ll just keep my pace.“I have prepared for this half marathon in the last two months. I have already run this distance three times and I hope tomorrow to be in great shape.”Straneo added that Anna Incerti, Italy’s 2010 European marathon champion, had had to withdraw from these championships. “She is sick,” she said. “It is a great pity. But we will try to achieve a good result anyway.”Having enjoyed a rise from domestic to international level following the removal of her spleen in 2010 after a medical condition which had increasingly hampered her achieving a healthy blood count, Straneo found it hard to come to terms with her success.After Moscow last year, she commented: “I still cannot believe I am a top runner.”Here, with a smile, she revised that opinion. “It’s different because after the silver medal I know that I can compete with strong people, but I always have my feet on the ground and so for me it’s very important to be here. It is a dream. I am very happy.”Meanwhile Denmark’s former world 800m record-holder and champion Wilson Kipketer, who will be running in the mass event, has predicted that, whoever wins, the race will be swift.“It’s going to be fast,” Kipketer said. “The weather is going to be good. My advice to the athletes is to run fast, break the record. That’s what we are looking for. I will be just behind you – I have been training hard!”The last word went to Tadese, who had a successful career in cycling before he took up running seriously in his late teens. Copenhagen, a city full of orderly cyclists, is working well for him.“It is a very nice city and the people are very friendly,” Tadese said. “The people enjoy cycling. It is very healthy to cycle.”Mike Rowbottom for the IAAF

Zersenay Tadese will set out on the streets of Copenhagen in tomorrow’s IAAF/AL-Bank World Half Marathon Championships seeking to extend his unprecedented run of individual success in this event.

Tadese and Kiprop ready to rumble on the streets of Copenhagen

IAAF Ambassadors Kajsa Bergqvist and Andreas Thorkildsen visited the Hvidovre Stadion in the Copenhagen suburbs on Friday (28) to run a Kids’ Clinic for 24 teenage athletes from around the Danish capital.Along with two local javelin coaches, Norway’s double Olympic champion Thorkildsen put four girls and eleven boys through their paces, and offered one-on-one coaching advice for the young throwers.<iframe allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="464" scrolling="no" src="//instagram.com/p/mGC-7QFVDu/embed/" width="400"></iframe>“It was really good,” said Thorkildsen afterwards. “The kids were enthusiastic and had a really good base knowledge. There were some talents there.“It was rewarding for me to try to help, and see the effect of some of the advice I’d given in their next throw.”Thorkildsen even gave his jacket to one of the young javelin throwers as a souvenir.“It was very nice,” said the thrilled recipient: 17-year-old Mikkel Bach Garbecht, who has a PB of 58.34m. “He [Andreas Thorkildsen] is a great man. I watched him at the 2009 World Championships, and now I’m standing here with him. It is amazing for me. Now I know what I should do when I start training again.”Over in the indoor training area, ten young Danish high jumpers had a two-hour session with the now-retired world indoor record-holder Kajsa Bergqvist.“It was really fun,” said Laura Poulsen, 14, and a 1.59m high jumper. “I learned that if it doesn’t go well, you just have to keep going to reach your goals. Kajsa is really cool, and very good at high jump!”Remarkably, as a 12-year-old, Bergqvist had travelled from her hometown of Sollentuna, Sweden, to Copenhagen’s Hvidovre Stadion, which is on Sollentuna Alle, to compete in an inter-schools competition in 1989.“It was a quarter of a century since I was last here,” said Bergqvist, who won the high jump that day, but remembers it more for the fact it was her first trip abroad without her parents.“I remember the family I stayed with in Copenhagen,” she says. “They took me to Tivoli Gardens.”Having just made the last-minute decision to run in the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships mass-race on Saturday (29 March), she’ll see the Tivoli Gardens again at the 20km mark.“I got so inspired at the press conference, I decided to run!” said Bergqvist. Apart from the requisite training and preparation, the only other thing she’s missing is a pair of sports sunglasses, although she joked that her designer pair may have to do.Back at the Kids Clinic, IAAF Vice President Sergey Bubka was also on hand to deliver a pep talk and some gifts to athletes young and old.Thorkildsen and Bergqvist were given t-shirts adorned with the image of a young Bubka mid-vault, to which Bergqvist retorted: “You were so good looking! Hey Sergey, I’m going to wear this for the race tomorrow.”So when you watch the race tomorrow, keep your eyes peeled for a former world high jump champion in designer shades and a Sergey Bubka t-shirt.James Charlton for the IAAF

IAAF Ambassadors Kajsa Bergqvist and Andreas Thorkildsen visited the Hvidovre Stadion in the Copenhagen suburbs on Friday (28) to run a Kids’ Clinic for 24 teenage athletes from around the Danish capital.

Bergqvist and Thorkildsen lead IAAF Ambassador Kids’ Clinic in Copenhagen

The official entry lists for the IAAF/AL-Bank World Half Marathon Championships, Copenhagen, Denmark on Saturday 29 March 2014, are now available.<o:p></o:p>The lists, as at 26 March 2014, are available as a PDF download in the ‘related documents’ panel on the right-hand side of this page.<o:p></o:p>IAAF<o:p></o:p>

The official entry lists for the IAAF/AL-Bank World Half Marathon Championships, Copenhagen, Denmark on Saturday 29 March 2014, are now available.

Copenhagen 2014 official entry lists as at 26 March 2014 – IAAF/AL-Bank World Half Marathon Championships

A total prize purse of US$245,000 will be paid by the IAAF for the men's and women's races at the IAAF/AL-Bank World Half Marathon Championships, Copenhagen, Denmark on Saturday 29 March 2014. Prize money (all amounts are in US$)Individual 1st - 30,000 2nd -15,000 3rd - 10,000 4th - 7000 5th - 5000 6th - 3000Teams 1st - 15,000 2nd -12,000 3rd - 9000 4th - 7500 5th - 6000 6th - 3000 World record bonus An athlete who surpasses a world record in Copenhagen will be awarded a US$50,000 bonus by the IAAF.The current ratified world records are: Men: Zersenay Tadese (ERI) 58:23, 21 March 2010, Lisbon Women (single sex race): Lornah Kiplagat (NED) 1:06:25, 14 October 2007, UdineNOTE: The payment of all prize money is dependent upon athletes undergoing and clearing the usual anti-doping procedures. Timetable Saturday 29 March (times are local: GMT + 1hour): Women’s race: 12:30 Men’s race: 12:55IAAF

A total prize purse of US$245,000 will be paid by the IAAF for the men's and women's races at the IAAF/AL-Bank World Half Marathon Championships, Copenhagen, Denmark on Saturday 29 March 2014.

$245,000 prize money up for grabs – Copenhagen 2014

With little more than a week to go to the 2014 IAAF/AL-Bank World Half Marathon Championships in the Danish capital of Copenhagen on 29 March, we take a look at some of the key contenders, as well as some of the more interesting entrants.
This will be the 21st edition of the championships (including the two editions that were renamed the &lsquo;IAAF World Road Running Championships&rsquo;) and Denmark is the 16th country to host the World Half Marathon Championships.
The event is being held in Scandinavia for just the second time ever, 20 years after Oslo hosted it. It&rsquo;s also just the second time in the history of the championships that it is being held in spring. Brussels in 2002 was the only other World Half Marathon Championships that was held at this time of year.
No story on the World Half Marathon Championships would be complete without a mention of five-time winner Zersenay Tadese. The Eritrean is the most decorated athlete in the history of the championships, having won 12 medals, five of them gold.
On the all-time medals table for the event, if Tadese were entered as a separate nation, he&rsquo;d rank fourth behind only Kenya, Ethiopia and Romania.
Tadese will be in Copenhagen next weekend, looking for an unprecedented sixth gold medal in what will be a record ninth appearance at the championships. If he makes it on to the podium, he would become the oldest ever men&rsquo;s individual medallist at the World Half Marathon Championships.
Seven teams &ndash; Spain, Ethiopia, France, Japan, Kenya, Romania and USA &ndash; will continue their record in Copenhagen as &lsquo;ever presents&rsquo; at the World Half Marathon Championships, having contested every edition of the event since the inaugural championships in 1992.
No fewer than 150 teams have taken part across the past 19 editions of the World Half Marathon Championships. Saudi Arabia will this year be making their first appearance at the event, with two athletes entered in the men&rsquo;s race.
Host team Denmark will be keen to perform well in front of their home crowd and for the first time they are fielding full teams for both the men&rsquo;s and women&rsquo;s races.
Denmark&rsquo;s best ever individual finish was Jan Ikov&rsquo;s 10th place in the men&rsquo;s race in 1993, while their best team placing was 12th in 2012.
Three of the five athletes who represented Denmark in 2012 feature on this year&rsquo;s team, including European under-23 10,000m bronze medallist Abdi Hakin Ulad. The team also includes eight-time national champion Morten Munkholm and Olympians Jesper Faurschou and Jess Draskau-Petersson.
At 49 years of age, Iceland&rsquo;s Martha Ernsdottir is set to become the oldest ever competitor at the World Half Marathon Championships. But she isn&rsquo;t the only quadragenarian in the race, or even on her team, as 42-year-old compatriot Helen Olafsdottir will also be representing Iceland.
But not all of the Icelandic team are veterans as 19-year-old Ingvar Hjartson is entered for the men&rsquo;s race. He&rsquo;s not quite the youngest athlete set to compete in Copenhagen, though. That honour belongs to Eritrea&rsquo;s 18-year-old Ghirmay Ghebreslassie. And with a 1:00:09 personal best, he could even challenge for a medal.
Other notable entrants include two of the Estonian Luik triplets, Liina and Leila.
Previews of the men&rsquo;s and women&rsquo;s races will be published online next week.
<hr />
RECORDS
World records Men: 58:23 Zersenay Tadese (ERI) Lisbon 2010 Women: 1:06:25 Lornah Kiplagat (NED) Udine 2007 (women-only) 1:05:12 Florence Kiplagat (KEN) Barcelona 2014 (mixed race, subject to usual ratification procedure)
Championship records Men: 58:59 Zersenay Tadese (ERI) Udine 2007 Women: 1:06:25 Lornah Kiplagat (NED) Udine 2007 Men&rsquo;s team: 2:58:54 (KEN) Udine 2007 Women&rsquo;s team: 3:22:30 (KEN) Birmingham 2009
Area records &ndash; men Africa: 58:23 Zersenay Tadese (ERI) Lisbon 2010 Asia: 1:00:25 Atsushi Sato (JPN) Udine 2007 Europe: 59:52 Fabian Roncero (ESP) Berlin 2001 North, Central America and the Caribbean: 59:43 Ryan Hall (USA) Houston 2007 Oceania: 1:00:56 Collis Birmingham (AUS) Marugame 2013 South America: 59:33 Marilson dos Santos (BRA) Udine 2007
Area records &ndash; women Africa: 1:05:12 Florence Kiplagat (KEN) Barcelona 2014 Asia: 1:07:26 Kayoko Fukushi (JPN) Marugame 2006 Europe: 1:06:25 Lornah Kiplagat (NED) Udine 2007 North, Central America and the Caribbean: 1:07:34 Deena Kastor (USA) Berlin 2006 Oceania: 1:07:11 Kim Smith (NZL) Philadelphia 2011 South America: 1:10:30 Yolanda Caballero (COL) New York City 2013
IAAF

With little more than a week to go to the 2014 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in the Danish capital of Copenhagen on 29 March, we take a look at some of the key contenders, as well as some of the more interesting entrants.

Facts, figures and who to watch in Copenhagen – IAAF/AL-Bank World Half Marathon Championships

Light turquoise with a touch of royal blue is probably the most accurate description of the official colour of the 2014 IAAF/AL-Bank World Half Marathon Championships. But green is also an equally appropriate colour for the giant international running event to be held in Copenhagen 29 March.The sustainable initiatives within the event are specifically collection of the windbreakers and other warm-up clothes that the 30,000 runners throw away before their 13.1 mile run through the Danish capital.And when the runners cross the finish line and quench their thirst with water from a half-litre plastic bottle, this bottle will also be collected and re-cycled. The money from the sale of clothes and empty bottles go to charity.“Copenhagen is Green Capital of Europe in 2014,” says Lord Mayor of Copenhagen Frank Jensen who will also participate in the World Half Marathon himself. “We are proud to show the world how small differences for large events can help to make a significant, sustainable difference without destroying the quality of the event.”Other environmental considerations of the weekend's World Half Marathon Championships is to provide electronic press kits on USB sticks instead of print for the more than 70 accredited journalists from around the world.Finally, electric vehicles are being used when the IAAF president Lamine Diack and other members of the IAAF need transportation from the airport to the hotel and around the city during their stay in Copenhagen.Last but not least, the leading car in front of 300 of the world's fastest runners and 30,000 recreational runners is also electric: an epic Tesla!“With the contract for the collection and recycling of clothes and plastic bottles, the IAAF World Half Marathon sends an important signal that we need to think in sustainable solutions when organizing events,” says Lars Lundov, CEO of Sport Event Denmark, one of the partners behind the event. “And we note that the runners on Facebook also have welcomed the green initiatives very positively.”Danish Athletics for the IAAF

Light turquoise with a touch of royal blue is probably the most accurate description of the official colour of the 2014 IAAF/AL-Bank World Half Marathon Championships. But green is also an equally appropriate colour for the giant international running event to be held in Copenhagen 29 March.

Electric vehicles and second-hand clothes are Copenhagen’s foot prints – IAAF/AL-Bank World Half Marathon Championships

With two weeks to go until the 2014 IAAF/AL-Bank World Half Marathon Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark, five-time winner Zersenay Tadese has revealed he will be vying for an unprecedented sixth individual gold medal.Without doubt the most successful athlete in the history of the event, the Eritrean is the reigning champion. He also holds the championship record of 58:59, set in 2007 in Udine in a race that remains one of the greatest ever half marathons in terms of depth.Tadese’s first victory came in 2006 when the event went through a slight change in format and name. Held in the Hungarian city of Debrecen, the races were slightly reduced to 20km and the name of the event changed to the IAAF World Road Running Championships.Although the name remained in place for one more year, the distance moved back up to the half marathon in 2007 and one year later the name reverted back to the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships.Tadese won two more gold medals in 2008 and 2009, but his streak came to an end in 2010 when he was surprisingly defeated by Kenya’s Wilson Kiprop.He returned to winning ways in Kavarna two years ago though, standing on the top step of the podium once more at the World Half Marathon Championships.Tadese will renew his rivalry with the 2010 victor in Copenhagen as Kiprop was recently announced as part of a strong Kenyan line-up for the event.Although the event will be missing Kenya’s Florence Kiplagat, who last month broke the half marathon world record*with 1:05:12 in Barcelona, the women’s race will still feature a host of some of the world’s best athletes over the distance with strong teams from Kenya and Ethiopia.For just the second time in the history of the championships, the 2014 edition is being held in the spring. This year’s contest will also be combined with a mass participation race. About 25,000 people from around the world will take to the streets right behind the elite fields as recreational runners are given a rare opportunity to be a part of a global championships race.The course in the Danish capital is fast, flat and scenic. Starting in front of the Danish Parliament at Christiansborg Castle, the runners will go uptown to Frederiksberg, the steepest part of the course. After passing the Frederiksberg Town Hall they turn left on to Frederiksberg Avenue as they head back to the heart of Copenhagen. In the final two kilometres athletes will pass the Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen Town Square and the Danish National Museum before crossing the finish line in front of Christiansborg Castle.IAAF*subject for the usual ratification procedures

With two weeks to go until the 2014 IAAF/AL-Bank World Half Marathon Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark, five-time winner Zersenay Tadese has revealed he will be vying for an unprecedented sixth individual gold medal.

Two weeks to go to Copenhagen – IAAF/AL-Bank World Half Marathon Championships

Kenya, the most successful nation in the history of the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships, has revealed its team for this year’s edition in Copenhagen on 29 March.Leading the way is 2010 winner Wilson Kiprop, one of the few men to have beaten five-time champion Zersenay Tadese over the 13.1 mile distance.He is joined on the team by former world junior cross-country champion Geoffrey Kipsang, the fastest man in the world in the half marathon in 2013 with his 58:54 victory in Ras Al Khaimah.The other members of the Kenyan men’s team – Robert Kwemoi Chemosin, Simon Cheprot, Kenneth Kiprop Kipkemoi and even reserve Cyprian Kimurgor Kotut – all have personal bests faster than 60 minutes. Lucy Wangui Kabuu, whose 1:06:09 PB in Ras Al Khaimah last year made her the fastest woman on a legal half-marathon course in 2013, appears to be Kenya’s best hope of glory in the women’s race.Kabuu has represented Kenya at the IAAF World Championships, Olympic Games and IAAF World Cross Country Championships, but this will be her first appearance at the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships.Of her five half-marathon races to date, Kabuu has won all but one of them.World 10,000m silver medallist Gladys Cherono, who set a PB of 1:06:48 last year, is another strong medal contender.Kabuu and Cherono are joined on the Kenyan team by Chicago Marathon runner-up Jemima Sumgong Jelagat, recent winner of the World’s Best 10k Mary Wacera and world 10,000m finalist Sally Chepyego, while 1:08:18 performer Mercy Kibarus is the reserve.IAAF<hr />Kenyan team for CopenhagenMen Robert Kwemoi Chemosin Simon Cheprot Wilson Kiprop Kenneth Kiprop Kipkemoi Geoffrey Kipsang Cyprian Kimurgor Kotut (reserve)Women Sally Chepyego Gladys Cherono Jemima Sumgong Jelagat Lucy Wangui Kabuu Mary Wacera Mercy Kibarus (reserve)

Kenya, the most successful nation in the history of the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships, has revealed its team for this year’s edition in Copenhagen on 29 March.

WORLD ATHLETICS HALF MARATHON CHAMPIONSHIPS

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Cherono leads historic Kenyan sweep – IAAF/AL-Bank World Half Marathon Championships