WRRC Copenhagen 26 preview: men's half marathon

Multiple global medallists will clash when the men’s half marathon brings the elite World Athletics Road Running Championships Copenhagen 26 competition to a close on Sunday (20).

Kenya’s Nicholas Kipkorir and Daniel Ebenyo both claimed medals at the last edition of the World Road Running Championships in Riga in 2023 and will fight for podium places again in the Danish capital. But they will be up against a formidable field featuring fellow major medallists such as Sweden’s world 10,000m bronze medallist Andreas Almgren and Uganda’s multiple Olympic and world champion Joshua Cheptegei.

Kipkorir is the fastest in the field so far this season thanks to the PB of 58:08 he ran in Lisbon in March. That performance places him in the top 10 on the world all-time list and the 27-year-old will line up as the world’s No.2-ranked road runner following a series of results that include a win at the Copenhagen Half Marathon in 58:23 a year ago.

As well as experience of running in the Danish capital, Kipkorir is also no stranger to the World Road Running Championships as he clinched bronze in the 5km three years ago – his first global medal after just missing the podium with a fourth-place finish in the 5000m at the Olympic Games in 2021. He has since stepped up in distance and made his marathon debut in Boston in April.

Among his rivals is his teammate Ebenyo who will be looking to go one better than his silver medal behind his compatriot Sabastian Sawe in Riga. The 2023 world 10,000m silver medallist, who turns 31 two days before the race in Copenhagen, will be aiming for a late birthday present of another medal to go with the world cross country bronze he claimed in Tallahassee in January.

It was Cheptegei who won ahead of Ebenyo at the 2023 World Championships – the Ugandan distance great clinching his third consecutive world 10,000m crown. In Copenhagen the 30-year-old will return to global competition for the first time since winning the Olympic 10,000m title in Paris two years ago. As well as his world and Olympic track titles, Cheptegei has a world cross-country crown from 2019, world records in the 5000m and 10,000m, and he finished fourth at the 2020 World Half Marathon Championships in Gdynia, where he set his PB of 59:21. He went close to that with 59:26 to win in Dubai in February, beating Kipkorir by two seconds.

Almgren started 2026 with a European record as he ran 26:45 for 10km in Valencia in January and matched that mark in Castellón the following month. The 31-year-old then switched his focus to the track, clinching top-three spots in Diamond League races in Shanghai, Oslo and Paris before winning the European 10,000m title. Now he prepares for his first half marathon of the year. Almgren also holds the European record in the longer event as he ran 58:41 to finish fourth in Valencia last year, two places ahead of Kipkorir.

North American record-holder Conner Mantz leads the US team. The 29-year-old ran his 59:15 half marathon in New York last year and set another area record of 2:04:43 for the marathon in Chicago in October. Copenhagen is set to offer him only his second race of the year as he continues his comeback after injury.

Kipkorir and Ebenyo are joined on the Kenyan team by Gideon Rono and Alex Nzioka Matata, who respectively clocked PBs of 58:38 in Ras Al Khaimah and 59:11 in Yangzhou earlier this year. The Ethiopian squad is led by Tadese Worku who finished fourth at the World Cross Country Championships, denied a medal as he finished one place behind Ebenyo. Worku has a season’s best of 58:59 from Prague in March, while his teammate Bereket Nega has also dipped inside an hour this year, running 59:43 in Berlin.

Italian record-holder Yemaneberhan Crippa is also in action. The 29-year-old finished fourth in the European 10,000m won by Almgren and set his national record of 59:01 in February. Others looking to make their mark include France’s Etienne Daguinos, who got European 5000m bronze last month and finished sixth in the 5km at the World Road Running Championships three years ago, plus Australia’s Jack Rayner and Canada’s Rory Linkletter.

Jess Whittington for World Athletics