Agnes Ngetich runs 1:05:15, a women-only world half marathon record, for world gold
Alone from the first kilometre in Copenhagen, the world cross country champion took one second off Peres Jepchirchir's 2020 mark and won by 50 seconds.
Photograph: the women's 10,000 m final at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, with Agnes Ngetich in the pack behind the leaders, by filip bossuyt, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia CommonsAgnes Ngetich ran the first kilometre of the world half marathon championship in about three minutes and never saw another runner again. She led by 10 seconds at 5 km, in 15:12, by 26 at 10 km in 30:39, by 53 at 15 km in 46:17 and by 51 at 20 km in 1:01:56. She crossed the line in Copenhagen on Sunday in 1:05:15, one second inside the women-only world record of 1:05:16 that Peres Jepchirchir set winning this title in Gdynia in 2020. It is subject to ratification.
The 25-year-old Kenyan now holds three world records: this one and the two 10 km marks, 28:46 in a mixed race and 29:27 in a women-only race. She won the world cross country title in Tallahassee in January by 42 seconds, ran 28:58 for 10 km in Lille, the third-fastest ever, and 8:08.95 for 3000 m in Monaco, also third on the all-time list. She said afterwards she means to go back to the track in 2027, because a world title there is the one she is missing.
Veronica Loleo won the chase for silver in 1:06:05, with Rwanda's Florence Niyonkuru third in a national record of 1:06:08, five seconds ahead of Daisilah Jerono. Emma Grace Hurley led the Americans, fifth in a best of 1:06:23, with Weini Kelati sixth and Jess McClain seventh. Kenya took the team title in 3:17:33 from the United States and Ethiopia.
Twenty-one kilometres on her own, and the record by a single second. Nobody paced it but her.
Sources: World Athletics; Athletics Weekly.
