One year ago, Kenyan Bedan Karoki set the bar exceptionally high in the inaugural edition of the Copenhagen Half Marathon. The Kenyan clocked 59:14, a world-leading performance at the time that would hold up as the second fastest of 2015. Leading a strong field, the 26-year-old returns to the Danish capital for this IAAF Silver Label Road Race on Sunday (18) hoping to raise the bar higher still.

It’s tempting to rhetorically consign the men’s 10,000m gold medal for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games to Mohammed Farah of Great Britain, the defending champion.

World 5000m champion Almaz Ayana stepped up in distance to the 10,000m for the Ethiopian Olympic Trial race in Hengelo on Wednesday (29) and showed she has the potential to dominate that event in the same way she does her specialist distance.

Galen Rupp has already set two national records this year, and with good conditions his own US 10,000m best of 26:48.00 could be in jeopardy at the Prefontaine Classic, the third of the 2014 IAAF Diamond League meetings, on Friday night (30).