Athletics
Big, Bold and Beautiful – Sanlam Cape Town Marathon prepares to boogy
Two legends of the sport will make their Sanlam Cape Town Marathon debut on Sunday 24 May this year as global interest in the next Abbott’s World Marathon Major builds to fever pitch, with fewer than 60 days to the start.
A 440% increase in international participation in the SCTM will see an array of nationalities and cultures participating in what might well be the biggest global participation athletics event on the African continent.
“Africa does not often get the opportunity on the global stage to celebrate its excellence. We understand the responsibility and privilege we have as we host 8500 international participants and their families from 102 countries, including 25 from Africa,“ said SCTM CEO Clark Gardner at a 60-day launch hosted at the event’s Official Vehicle Partner, Mercedes-Benz, at its flagship Century City showroom last week.
And further boosting the international flavour of the event, and the coffers of the region during the tourist off-peak ‘Secret Season’, is the news that Cape Town will be taking over the baton from New York in hosting 1800 of the world’s best age group marathon runners for the Abbott World Marathon Majors MTT Age Group World Championships.
The sold-out marathon will see 27 000 runners on the start line on Sunday 24 May, in addition to 11 000 in the Peace 10km, 4000 in the 5km fun run and up to 1500 in the traditional three trail races over 11km, 22km and 43km.
Good news for elite athletes is that the prize purse has been significantly increased this year, with the total prize purse for the marathon top 10 and age group contenders (male and female combined) climbing by just over R1 million (40%), from R2,578,000 to R3,598,000 which rises to a dizzy R6,5 million if all incentives are won.
“2026 is set to be a landmark year for the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon,” said Shadi Chauke, Group Executive: Corporate Affairs and Sustainability at Sanlam. “And we are delighted that 3000 of our own employees will participate in one of the events on the racing weekend.
“With a presence in 25 African countries, Sanlam believes deeply in Africa, and in the immense potential of its people. Our purpose remains clear: to empower all Africans to run with confidence, reach their dreams, and Unite as One.”
The extension of adidas’s commitment to the event as technical sponsor for another six years adds to the prestige and financial stability of the race. “It’s an immense privilege that Cape Town Marathon has agreed to renew terms to enable us to be with the marathon for another six years,” said Head Senior Director, Brand, at adidas, Tom Brown.
“This will our fifth year associated with this great event. Our sponsorship has been elevated to a global level this year and will sit alongside the adidas sponsorships at Berlin and Boston Marathons.
“There is always keen anticipation to view the adidas kit for Cape Town each year. This year we’ve paid homage to the event itself with the gold and blue colours coming together in both footwear and apparel.
“Regarding our shoes, the Boston 13’s special edition for Cape Town Marathon again has the race logo on the shoe and incorporates the very best of adidas running technology.”
With the potential for the 2026 SCTM to be declared an Abbotts World Marathon Major should this year’s race tick all the boxes, quality as well as quantity is a watchword and the elite field represents the strongest ever assembled for a marathon on African soil.
The men’s lineup includes no fewer than 14 athletes with personal best times faster than Abdisa Tola’s 2024 course record of 2:08:15, while nine women racing in Cape Town have run inside Glenrose Xaba’s 2:22:22 record time set in the same year.
“To deliver on our opportunity, we have also assembled the very best marathon elite and wheelchair field the African continent has ever seen,” Gardner continued. “Led by the best marathon runner of all time, Eliud Kipchoge, we have at least 15 starters in each gender who could break our course and African All-comers records.
“The balance of international and South African legends of the sport with the stars of the future, and a healthy mix of African spirit, should make for an incredible race come 24 May 2026.”
Undoubtedly the biggest name and drawcard is that of Kipchoge. Few would question his credentials as the world’s best marathoner of all time. There is quite simply none other who can compare with his record of excellence and consistency.
During a phenomenal 20 years of racing success at the highest level, which started with a World Championship 5000m gold medal as a teenager in 2003, Kipchoge was virtually unbeatable over the marathon distance. His rivals accepted they were running for silver, at best.
During Kipchoge’s glorious double-decade, two Olympic Marathon gold medals (Rio in 2016 and Sapporo, Japan in 2021), a world marathon record of 2:01:09 set in Berlin in 2022 (bettered the following year by another Kenyan, Kevin Kiptum), a 1:59:40 marathon time at the INEOS Challenge in Vienna (not accepted for record purposes) and a staggering eleven World Marathon Major titles fell to Kipchoge’s remarkable distance-running cornucopia.
Even at 41 years of age, Kipchoge remains competitive, as his 6th position in 2:05:25 in last year’s London Marathon underlines. The Kenyan super-star plans to start his two-year world tour of all continents in Cape Town this May.
“It is truly special for me to run my first ever marathon on African soil. The Sanlam Cape Town Marathon represents a powerful connection to the continent that has shaped so many great athletes,” says Kipchoge.
“I am excited to experience this event for the first time, to feel the energy of the course, and most importantly, to meet and share this moment with the fans. Running has always been about unity, and I look forward to celebrating that spirit together in Cape Town.
“To start my World Tour in Cape Town is very special. To race my first ever marathon on the African continent holds deep meaning for me. I cannot wait!”
While all eyes will be on Kipchoge, a clutch of other platinum, gold and silver athletes will be aiming for their fair share of media attention and a generous portion of the substantially increased prize money at the sharp end of the race.
When Stephen Kiprop ran 4th in the 2024 Berlin Marathon in 2:03:37 in just his second attempt at the distance, a time which would have been a world record just 13 years previously, many thought that Kiprop would go on to achieve higher honours for the marathon.
At just 26 years of age, his best marathon years likely lie ahead of him and victory in Cape Town, likely in record time, could prove a catalyst to take him to new heights.
When Maru Teferi’s family emigrated from Ethiopia to Israel in 2006 when their son was 14, it provided him with rich opportunities to develop his athletics talent. Teferi holds his adopted country’s marathon and half-marathon records and has competed for Israel in multiple Olympic Games and World Championships, most notably in Budapest in 2023 when he won the silver medal in the marathon.
Teferi’s lifetime best came the following year with a national-record-breaking 2:04:44 in finishing a competitive 7th at the Valencia Marathon in December (just 20 seconds adrift of the podium) and he will be looking to be similarly competitive in Cape Town in May.
A host of 2:05 marathoners will line up in the DHL Stadium precinct in May with an eye and heartbeat of being part of African marathon-running history with South Africa’s Elroy Gelant, who raced to a national record of 2:05:36 in Hamburg, Germany, last year, leading the pack as crowd favourite.
Kenyans Bernard Biwott (2:05:25) and Justus Kangogo (2:05:57) and Ethiopians Yihunilign Adane (2:05:33), Mulugeta Asefa Uma (2:05:33) and Boki Kebede Asefa (2:05:40) all have impressive pedigrees and will provide considerable depth in quality with potential podium positions beckoning.
At 41, three times winner of the Cape Town Marathon, Stephen Mokoka, boasts a life-time best of 2:06:42 (Osaka, Japan, 2024) but still believes he has what it takes to compete at the highest level, while 2022 winner of the Durban International Marathon and twice top ten finisher at the World Championships, Zimbabwean Isaac Mpofu (best of 2:06:48), Ethiopian 2:06 marathoners Jemal Yimer Mekonen and Adane Gebre Kebede (winner of the 2023 Cape Town Marathon) and Kenya’s Leonard Langat (best of 2:06:59) will all compete strongly in this exceptional lineup.
As if this stellar field was not enough to quicken the pulses of marathon fans, the announcement that the hottest name in South African distance-running, Adriaan Wildschutt, will also be part of the 2026 SCTM looks certain to clinch its status as Africa’s race of the year. Some years away from a marathon debut, Wildschutt, who took the New York City Half Marathon by storm two weeks ago, will participate as a designated pacer, scheduled to take the field through the first 25km at optimal pace.
One of the athletes who could benefit from Wildschutt’s pacing is his older brother, Nadeel, who will be looking to improve his impressive 2:09:30 debut in Arizona last December with a view to qualifying for the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028. The qualifying time required for LA is likely to be even faster than the challenging 2:08:10 for Paris in 2024.
Marathon debutants amongst elite athletes always add interest. Former SA 10km record-holder and multi-national championship gold-medallist, Precious Mashele, will be making his marathon debut in the SCTM, potentially also with a view to competing in Los Angeles, while Lesotho’s Kamohelo Mofolo, who has raced 1:00:52 for the half marathon, also tests his footprints over 42km for the first time.
Leading South African trail athlete, Cape Town-based Kane Reilly, will be out to demonstrate his prowess on tarmac in his first road marathon.
While one legend of the sport heads up the men’s field in the SCTM, another takes centre stage in the women’s – Edna Ngeringwony Kiplagat. Just over a decade ago, when the Kenyan athlete was winning world championship titles almost at will, she was simply ‘Edna’.
At 46, most former elite athletes would have long ago hung up their racing flats and taken to the couch, becoming social joggers or age group contenders at best. A handful, including Kiplagat, remain competitive, retaining their hunger for success at the highest level.
At 41, she won the fourth of her World Marathon Major titles at the 2021 Boston Marathon while three years later she returned to the world’s oldest marathon. She contended strongly for line honours before grabbing the final podium place in 2:23:21, less than a minute behind her compatriot, Helen Obiri, who took the title.
And less than four months ago, 46-year-old Kiplagat ran second to another compatriot, Catherine Amanangole in the Abu Dhabi Marathon, finishing in 2:25:07.
Kiplagat will best be remembered for her dominance in women’s marathoning in the decade of the 2010s, when she twice won gold at the World Championships (Daegu, South Korea, in 2011 and in Moscow in 2013) and was seldom off the World Marathon Majors podiums, winning in New York, London (after placing second in three successive years) and Boston.
All of her competitive racing took place been outside Africa in the past two decades and, like Kipchoge, she will be determined to deliver a top performance on ‘home soil’ in the twilight of her competitive career as an elite athlete.
Kiplagat’s fastest marathon is 2:19:50, almost three minutes inside Xaba’s SCTM record, which Kiplagat achieved when she placed second in London in 2012, but the fastest in the field is Lonah Chemtai Salpeter, 37, whose 2:17:45 win in the 2020 Tokyo Marathon was the sixth fastest in the world at the time.
Salpeter left her home in Kenya in 2008 to work in Israel, where she started running as a hobby at university in 2010, before meeting and marrying running coach Dan Salpeter. She obtained Israeli citizenship just in time to qualify for the Rio Olympics in 2016, where she was forced to drop out of the marathon after 35km.
Consistent improvement has marked Salpeter’s career and she currently holds all of Israel’s distance running records from 1500m on the track to the marathon.
Salpeter followed up her 2020 Tokyo Marathon triumph with a bronze medal in 2:20:18 at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, and podium positions at the New York City and Boston Marathons in 2022 and 2023 in 2:23:30 and 2:21:57 respectively and will have her sights set on becoming the first athlete to run under 2 hrs 20 min in Cape Town.
While Kiplagat and Salpeter boast impressive marathon CV’s, based on their performances in recent years, the younger Ethiopian trio of Ruti Aga, 32, Dera Dida, 29, and Mestawut Fikir, 26, whose personal best times are separated by just 39 seconds, could hold sway in determining the podium positions on 24 May.
Aga ran a lifetime best of 2:18:09 in winning the 2023 Yellow River Estuary Marathon in Dongying, China, and equalled it just over 2,5 months later in Dubai, where she ran second to her compatriot, Tigist Ketema. In January this year she defended her title at the Xiamen Marathon in China, winning in 2:22:45.
Dida ran her personal best of 2:18:32 when she placed second in Dubai in January 2025, while Fikir’s lifetime best of 2:18:48 came in finishing second to Ketema at the 2024 Berlin Marathon. And just four weeks ago Fikir raced to 7th place in 2:20:00 at this year’s Tokyo Marathon.
Bahrain’s Desi Jisa Mokonin (personal best of 2:20:07), Ethiopia’s Waganesh Mekasha (2:20:26), who both set their best times last year, and Ethiopian Shuko Genemo (2:21:35), who ran her best in 2024 are other high-quality athletes who have run faster than the SCTM record and will add to the competitiveness of the field.
A downside to the announcement of the field for this year’s race, it is the absence of South Africa’s leading women marathons, for reasons of injury or race scheduling, with local interest focussing on Cape Town-based Zimbabwean, Fortunate Chidzivo, who boasts a 2:33 marathoner at her best.
Former British multisport star and three-time World Duathlon Champion, Emme Pallant-Brown, now a South African resident, will be making her marathon debut.
“We don’t just want to compete with the other World Majors, we want Cape Town to be the best World Marathon Major!” concluded Carl Rothmann, CEO of Sanlam Investments. “To have so many runners here with PBs inside our course records is an incredibly exciting day for distance running in South Africa.
“This is a journey for us. We have confirmed an extension of our sponsorship for a further five years which underlines our desire for Africa to own an absolutely world class marathon.”
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Athletics
Agnes and Andreas light up Copenhagen at the climax of the World Road Running Championships
Acknowledged as ‘the queen’ by her rivals, Agnes Ngetich was the ruling monarch of Copenhagen this morning when she secured the gold medal in world record time at the 2026 World Road Running Championships.
And there was Scandinavian joy as neighbouring Sweden’s Andreas Almgren upset race favourite, Nicholas Kipkorir, and raced to victory and a European half marathon record in the men’s race, which brought down the curtain on a successful six-race championship.
The championship fully embraced Danish ‘Hygge’ culture – everyone has a good time – with the race routes taking in some of the capital city’s outstanding features, including the Tivoli Gardens, the Marble Church and the Queen Louise Bridge, rumoured to be in line for a name change to Queen Agnes Bridge after the weekend’s racing!
45 000 participants took part in the mass-participation half marathon which immediately followed the championship event. Cool conditions favoured the athletes, although wind gusts, which collapsed a row of bicycles near the start, added to the finish times of the elite.
Ngetich was in a class of her own, breaking away from the start to win by the best part of a minute ahead of compatriot Veronica Loleo, but with a $50 000 incentive at stake for a world record, there was no lack of excitement at the finish.
Ngetich raced down the home straight past the towering Parken Stadium, but it looked as if she might just miss the 1:05:16 mark, set by fellow Kenyan, Peres Jepchirchir at the last World Championships in Riga in 2023. But a final surge took her over the line just one second inside Jepchirchir’s time, winning in 1:05:15.
“I thought I might miss it,” acknowledged Ngetich. “But the thought of the $50 000 gave me extra energy and I gave a last push. I’m so happy to have won the title and gained the record.”
Ngetich runs with a loping gait, evocative of that of the brilliant South African Matthews Motswarateu, whose lolling style earned him the nickname ‘Loop en Val’ (Walk and Fall).
Like Motswaratweu, who set a world 10km record of 27:59,3 in New York in 1980, the lack of a classic running gait proves no impediment to Ngetich, who now holds three road world records, including the 10km marks for both mixed (28:46) and women’s only (29:27) races.
“I just felt it was a great day for running and a chance of the record, so didn’t want to wait around after the start,” Ngetich explained her race tactics. “I felt good most of the way although started to tire towards the end before picking up the pace in the final 100m.
“It’s not so easy to be a front-runner – you have to be strong in body and mind to keep up the pace on your own. And today with the gusts of wind I had to be extra strong.”
Ngetich was 11 seconds ahead of a group of ten runners at 5km, a group which included her compatriots Veronica Loleo and Desilah Jerono, Ethiopians Tsigie Gebreselama and Ftaw Zeray, Americans Grace Hurley, Weini Kelati and Jessica McLain and Rwandan Florence Niyonkuru.
The lead had grown to 26 seconds as Ngetich led through 10km in 30:39 and 53 seconds through 15km (46:17), with just six pursuers left in contention for podium honours after Gebreselama and McLain had fallen off the pace.
With 4km to go, the race for line honours was over as Ngetich raced clear to a record-breaking victory, but four were left fighting for two medals. Loleo, Niyonkuru, Jerono and Hurley matched strides in close combat, with the American first to concede 2km from home.
Last month Jerono, a senior private in the Kenyan Airforce, ran a 10km PB in stormy weather in Cape Town and expressed her determination to challenge for the podium in Copenhagen. Just a kilometre from the finish her dream was in sight, but she ran short on fuel when poised for take-off, leaving Loleo and Niyonkuru to fight for silver and bronze.
The Rwandan was the surprise package of the race, taking bronze in 1:06:08, three seconds back of Loleo – a huge 1:14 improvement on her previous best, set in Berlin in March this year.
A gold medal in the team competition proved compensation for Jerono, with the USA and Ethiopia taking the team silver and bronze respectively.
Unlike the women’s race, the result of the men’s contest was in doubt till the last and yielded the fifth ‘last gasp’ finish out of six championship races, with Almgren and race favourite, Nicholas Kipkorir, dishing up a finish for the ages.
Demonstrating the new-found confidence which currently typifies American distance running, Connor Mantz went to the front from the start and was still in the vanguard 3km into the race, reached in a brisk 8:27. Almgren and Japanese athlete Tomoya Ogikubo were at his shoulder.
But soon it was business as usual with a phalanx of red-vested Kenyan athletes leading the charge, with the red and green of Ethiopia and yellow of Uganda adding colour to the ‘lead bus’ of some twenty-five athletes.
Kipkorir, who had the fastest time going into the race, had been biding his time behind his teammates, but the Kenyan was soon out in front, dictating the destiny of the race and racing through 5km with teammates Daniel Ebenyo and Rono at his shoulder in 13:57.
The three Kenyans were still out in front through 10km in 27:53, with a larger group, which included Almgren, Mantz, Olympian and World Championship gold medalist Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda, Ethiopian Tadese Worku and Italian Yemaneberhan Crippa, strung out behind them.
Kipkorir’s pace increase led to casualties and only Almgren, Cheptegei and Worku were left with the Kenyan through 15km in 41:47. Worku was next to go as the remaining trio hit 20km in 55:20. Cheptegei, struggling with a foot injury, fell off the pace and as the athletes turned into the home straight, 600m from the finish, it was down to just two.
Kipkorir attempted a final surge but in the end the race-smart tactics of Almgren paid dividends. He had stayed behind the leading runners throughout and now took the lead 150 metres from home to win by 5 seconds in a European record time of 58:06. Cheptegei clinched bronze 15 seconds further back in 58:26.
With all four of their runners in the top ten, Kenya had no rival for the team gold, making it a half marathon golden double and crowing a top championship for the East African team.
But the hour belonged to Stockholm-based Almgren. “I felt so good today,” Almgren said. “My plan was to do as little work as possible, just to stay behind the leaders and only take the lead at the end. And with 200m to go and feeling strong, I hammered and got a gap.
“Nicholas was so strong – I feel a little bit bad (about his tactics), but in a championship race you have to do what is best for you to win. At the European 10km champs I needed a fast time, so did the work that day. Today was all about the win and I knew I had a fast kick. My tactics paid off.
“Early in my career I regarded it as an impossible task to beat the top African runners. And I was always getting injured trying for extra speed. Then I found the Norwegian style of higher mileage and lower intensity suited me and that has made all the difference. But athletes like Joshua (Cheptegei) and others from Africa have been truly inspiring.”
Many half-marathoners at the championships are on the cusp of moving up to the marathon, with Almgren preparing to race the New York Marathon in November. “I’ll be moving out to Flagstaff, Arizona, to complete my preparation at altitude and hope to join (South African) Adriaan Wildschutt in some training runs, although he is racing Chicago Marathon in October and is at a slightly different phase in his training,” explained Almgren.
Kipkorir is also looking at a Marathon Major for a debut, admitting he would love to do so on his home continent. “I would love to race Cape Town Marathon in May,” he said.
World Road Running Championships
Men’s Half Marathon results
1 Agnes Ngetich (KEN) 1:05:15
2 Veronica Loleo (KEN) 1:06:05
3 Florence Niyonkuru (RWA) 1:06:08
4 Daisilah Jerono (KEN) 1:06:13
5 Emma Grace Hurley (USA) 1:06:23
6 Weini Kelati Frezghi (USA) 1:06:35
7 Jessica McClain (USA) 1:06:53
8 Ftaw Zeray (ETH) 1:07:07
9 Fatima Ezzahra Birdaha (MAR) 1:07:33
10 Esther Chebet (UGA) 1:07:38
Team medallists
1 Kenya 3:17:33
2 United States 3:19:51
3 Ethiopia 3:22:40
World Road Running Championships
Men’s Half Marathon results
1 Andreas Almgren (SWE) 58:06
2 Nicholas Kipkorir (KEN) 58:11
3 Joshua Cheptegei (UGA) 58:26
4 Tadese Worku (ETH) 58:35
5 Gideon Rono (KEN) 58:57
6 Hani Idriss Hersi (DJI) 59:09
7 Yemaneberhan Crippa (ITA) 59:18
8 Alex Nzioka Matata (KEN) 59:22
9 Daniel Ebenyo (KEN) 59:42
10 Othmane El Goumri (MAR) 59:53
Team medallists
1 Kenya 2:56:30
2 Ethiopia 2:59:47
3 United States 3:01:34
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They expected an athlete from the Boulder Training Group in the USA to triumph in the Men’s One Mile Race at the World Road Running Championships in Copenhagen this morning (Saturday 19 Sept) but it was German Robert Farken, training partner to race favourite, Yared Nugushe of the USA, who stole gold.
Farken, who recently moved his training base from Leipzig to Boulder to link up with athletes of the calibre of Nugushe and Australian Oliver Hoare, timed his challenge to perfection, charging past Yared Nuguse in the closing stages to triumph by 0,53 sec in a world-leading German record of 3:51.80.
Nugushe, who had led for most of the race, finished a close second in 3:52,33 with Ruben Querinjean winning a rare medal for Luxembourg taking third in 3:52,77.
“I’ve been staying with Yared in Copenhagen leading up to the race,” Farken remarked. “So I knew he planned to go out hard from the start. I chose to start more cautiously and kept just behind the chasing pack.
“I’m delighted that our training group got first and second, and Olly (Australian Oliver Hoare) got 6th, and also proud to have clinched gold for Germany. I’m just disappointed that there are no other German athletes at the event.”
Farken produced his decisive move with little more than 100m to the finish line, overhauling Nuguse before powering towards the finish near Parken Stadium.
Farken’s 3:51.80 moved him to second on the world all-time list for the road mile, behind only Elliot Giles’ world record of 3:51.3.
Nuguse had spoken before the race of challenging Giles’ world record and made his intentions clear from the gun. The Olympic 1500m bronze medallist immediately went to the front and quickly opened a small gap. Jake Heyward was the closest pursuer, a stride or so back, with Farken settled in third, biding his time for his explosive finish to take the title by the smallest of margins.
Farken finished sixth over 1500m at last year’s World Championships in Tokyo and has rewritten his national record books in 2026, clocking 3:30.09 for 1500m en route to a 3:46.82 mile in London in July.
Better known as a steeplechaser, the 24-year-old from Luxembourg, Querinjean, has enjoyed an outstanding 2026 campaign. He took European steeplechase silver in Birmingham last month and later lowered his Luxembourg record to 8:05.36.
His bronze was also historic. It was the first global senior athletics medal won by a Luxembourg man since Josy Barthel’s 1952 Olympic 1500m gold.
Morocco’s Anass Essayi was first athlete from Africa across the finish line at the Parken Stadium, finishing fourth in a PB of 3:53.28, with South African Tshepo Tshite second in 10th place in a national record of 3:55.66.
French favourite in the Women’s Mile, Agathe Guillemot, has had a busy two weeks in major World Athletics meetings. She finished sixth in the 1500m at the Wanda Diamond League Final in Brussels before placing eighth at the World Athletics Ultimate Championship Budapest last weekend.
But she kept the best for last at Copenhagen, timing her finish to perfection to race to victory over Ethiopia’s Freweyni Hailu, who retained her silver medal in a season’s best of 4:24,35 after finishing second at the inaugural World Road Running Championships in Riga, Latvia in 2023.
Kenyan Mirriam Cherop made it a strong African podium presence with a solid third in 4:25,71, while Annemarie Nissen gave the sizeable Danish crowd something to cheer by finishing an impressive fourth in a PB of 4:26.78.
South Africa’s Karebo More raced to a national record, with an impressive PB in 4:33,27 in 15th place with the second Moroccan, Fatima Birdana, 22nd in 4:36,74.
The French 27-year-old, Guillemot, remained patient as a large lead group stayed together for much of the V-shaped course through Copenhagen, before moving to the front with little more than 20 seconds of racing remaining and kicking decisively for the first individual global title of her career.
Guillemot’s winning time took almost half a second off the previous European record of 4:23.25 set by Jemma Reekie in Dusseldorf earlier this month and moved the Frenchwoman to fourth on the world all-time list.
Hailu, one of the most experienced athletes in the field, was prominent from the outset alongside USA’s Addison Wiley. Behind them, Ethiopia’s Birke Haylom and Guillemot were content to tuck into a tightly packed group as the athletes headed along Østerbrogade.
Guillemot raised her arms after crossing in 4:22.74, bringing to a close a season that has taken her across track, short track, cross country and now road racing.
Behind her, Hailu showed once again how well suited she is to the road mile. The Ethiopian had run 4:23.06 when finishing second to Diribe Welteji at the 2023 championships in Riga and returned to the same step of the podium in Copenhagen.
Results
One Mile Men
1 Robert Farken (GER) 3:51.80
2 Yared Nuguse (USA) 3:52.33
3 Ruben Querinjean (LUX) 3:52.77
4 Anass Essayi (MAR) 3:53.28
5 Flavien Szot (FRA) 3:53.44
6 Oliver Hoare (AUS) 3:53.65
7 Pietro Arese (ITA) 3:54.37
8 Vincent Ciattei (USA) 3:54.62
9 Jude Thomas (AUS) 3:54.92
10 Tshepo Tshite (RSA) 3:55.66
One Mile Women
1 Agathe Guillemot (FRA) 4:22.74
2 Freweyni Hailu (ETH) 4:24.35
3 Mirriam Cherop (KEN) 4:25.71
4 Annemarie Nissen (DEN) 4:26.78
5 Naomi Korir (KEN) 4:29.15
6 Adelle Tracey (JAM) 4:29.30
7 Linden Hall (AUS) 4:29.36
8 Lucia Stafford (CAN) 4:29.51
9 Gabriela DeBues-Stafford (CAN) 4:30.59
10 Addison Wiley (USA) 4:31.02
Mixed team medallists
1 United States (Addison Wiley, Gracie Hyde, Yared Nuguse, Vincent Ciattei) 16:49.89
2 Australia (Linden Hall, Sarah Billings, Oliver Hoare, Jude Thomas) 16:50.61
3 Kenya (Mirriam Cherop, Naomi Korir, Brian Komen, Kyumbe Munguti) 16:51.36
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Ethiopean Likina Amebaw and Eritrean Dawit Seare delivered Africa’s first titles at the World Road Running Championships which took place in a cold Copenhagen today (Saturday 19 Sept), holding off strong fields to clinch gold medals in the respective Men’s and Women’s 5km Races.
The event proved a triumph for Africa as the continent placed eight athletes (from six countries) in the top ten in the men’s race and five out of ten in the women’s.
It took the mercurial talent of Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen to prevent an African clean sweep of the podium. In a thrilling finish it appeared that the Norwegian was set to take the title to add to his 5000m track victory at the Ultimate Championship in Budepest last weekend, when he took the lead 250 metres from home.
But Seare, 22, who finished 4th at the inaugural World Road Running Championships in 2023, was determined not to miss out on this occasion, producing a final burst which took him to victory.
The Eritrean – who won the African 5000m title earlier this year – crossed the line in a national record of 12:56. Ingebrigtsen followed three seconds later in a Norwegian record of 12:59, while Seare’s teenage teammate Saymon Amanuel completed the podium in a PB of 13:00.
“In the end it was a matter of timing,” said Ingebrigtsen. “I was a little surprised that the leaders were going full on with 1200m to run. But I guess I produced my final surge too early. You need a bit of luck in these close contests and in the end I was unlucky. But Seare was running very strongly and I was completely spend before the finish.”
Ingebrigtsen was racing on his 26th birthday in only his second road 5km – and his first in six years – and his third consecutive weekend of major championship racing.
The early stages belonged to France with Mediterranean Games 1500m champion Flavien Szot darting to the front shortly after the start and immediately injected pace into the race. His teammate Jimmy Gressier, who had run a European record of 12:51 in Lille earlier this year, positioned himself just behind alongside Ethiopia’s Addisu Yihune and Kenyan youngster Charles Kiboino.
Gressier then assumed control, with Yihune and Amanuel closest behind. By 3km Ingebrigtsen had moved steadily through the field and was now about seventh, while Gressier surrendered the lead to Amanuel. Kiboino remained prominent, as did Seare, who had kept himself within striking distance throughout.
Amanuel, still only 19, capped an excellent day for Eritrea by taking bronze behind Ingebrigtsen in 13:00.
Australia’s Ky Robinson and winner of the Commonweath 10 000m, finished just outside the medals, clocking an Oceanian record of 13:04.
Uganda’s Keneth Kiprop matched Robinson’s 13:04 with a PB in fifth, followed by Yihune in 13:07 and Sime in a season’s best of 13:08.
South Africa’s Maxime Chaumeton lost vital training with a torn hamstring eight weeks back, but had recovered to be able to contend strongly, rounding out the top ten with a 13:13 time, 7 seconds off his best. “I’m determined to return to the Championships next year to take a medal,” Chaumeton remarked.
Earlier Ethiopian Likina Amebaw lived up to her pre-race favourite billing, adding another global title to her collection just six days on from claiming the Ultimate 5000m crown, securing a convincing victory in the women’s race. “It’s my winning week,” Amebaw confessed. “So I had to make the most of it. I felt really good out there today.
“I’m coming straight from Budapest, but the shift from track to road was not really difficult as I have been training both at the same time,” she explained. “The track was a bit difficult for me so running the 5km today was better and I felt good – I had prepared for road racing.
“I knew I had to push from the very start and it worked as planned. There was a little bit of wind, but it was okay and I managed to find some good spots on the course.”
The 28-year-old Ethiopian took control of the race during the first kilometre and made her winning move as she reached the 4km mark, kicking away from Kenya’s Caroline Gitonga, who had led the race through the third kilometre.
The leaders, who covered the first kilometre down Østerbrogade in just outside three minutes, picked up the pace and by the time they reached the 2km marker in around 5:54, Amebaw led a breakaway group of three – ahead of her compatriot Aleshign Baweke and Gitonga, who was strong throughout the race.
But when it came to the business end there was no stopping Amebaw who crossed the line with her arms raised in 14:41.
Gitonga secured silver in 14:48, while Australia’s Rose Davies finished strongly to clinch bronze in an Oceanian record of 14:50 to clinch the final podium place just a second ahead of South Africa’s fast-finishing Tayla Kavanagh. Baweke was fifth in 14:53.
The Durban-based Kavanagh was a revelation, showing the form which took her to the national track titles over 5000m and 10 000m this year. “Tayla Kavanagh is running the race of her life,” screamed the commentator as she moved through the field in the final 600m to fall a fraction short of podium glory but fully 19 seconds inside Elana Meyer’s 32 year old best in a new national record.
“I ran that in Providence 5k in the USA in 1994,” recalled Meyer. “It was a great achievement back then. Well done to Tayla for taking on the leading women in the world !! A great day for SA women.”
World Road Running Championship
Results – Men 5km
1 Dawit Seare (ERI) 12:56
2 Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR) 12:59
3 Saymon Amanuel (ERI) 13:00
4 Ky Robinson (AUS) 13:04
5 Keneth Kiprop (UGA) 13:04
6 Addisu Yihune (ETH) 13:07
7 Mezgebu Sime (ETH) 13:08
8 Mathew Kipchumba Kipsang (KEN) 13:11
9 Egide Ntakarutimana (BDI) 13:12
10 Maxime Chaumeton (RSA) 13:13
Results – Women 5km
1 Likina Amebaw (ETH) 14:41
2 Caroline Gitonga (KEN) 14:48
3 Rose Davies (AUS) 14:50
4 Tayla Kavanagh (RSA) 14:51
5 Aleshign Baweke (ETH) 14:53
6 Marta García (ESP) 14:59
7 Georgia Griffith (AUS) 15:01
8 Samiya Hassan Nour (DJI) 15:04
9 Hannah Gapes (NZL) 15:06
10 Hannah Nuttall (GBR) 15:08
Mixed team medallists
1 United States (Addison Wiley, Gracie Hyde, Yared Nuguse, Vincent Ciattei) 16:49.89
2 Australia (Linden Hall, Sarah Billings, Oliver Hoare, Jude Thomas) 16:50.61
3 Kenya (Mirriam Cherop, Naomi Korir, Brian Komen, Kyumbe Munguti) 16:51.36
The post Titles for Ethiopia and Eritrea as Africa shines at World Road Running Championships appeared first on Sports Network Africa.
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