WRRC Copenhagen 26 preview: women's half marathon

Kenyan distance runner Agnes Ngetich (© World Athletics Sergio Mateo)

Agnes Ngetich will aim to add a second global title to an outstanding 2026 campaign when she lines up for the women’s half marathon at the World Athletics Road Running Championships Copenhagen 26.

The Kenyan has excelled across surfaces and distances this year. She claimed her first global title with a dominant victory at the World Cross Country Championships in Tallahassee in January, winning by 42 seconds, before clocking a world-leading 28:58 for 10km in Lille, the third-fastest performance in history. She then demonstrated her track speed in emphatic fashion in Monaco in July, dominating a high-quality 3000m field in a world-leading 8:08.95.

Victory in Copenhagen would therefore further underline Ngetich’s remarkable versatility, adding a world half-marathon title to a season in which she has already established herself as the leading exponent across multiple terrains. She heads to Danish capital as the world’s No.1-ranked road runner.

Few can match her credentials over 21.1km. The world 10km record-holder ran 1:03:04 on her half-marathon debut in Valencia in 2024 and returned a year later to win in 1:03:08. Those remain the second and third-fastest performances in history, behind only Letesenbet Gidey’s world record of 1:02:52.

Her only setback of an otherwise exceptional year came at the New York City Half Marathon in March. After an ambitious start, Ngetich paid for the early pace and faded to 13th in 1:10:25. Copenhagen offers an opportunity to make amends, but her record over the distance suggests that New York was very much the exception rather than the rule.

Tsigie Gebreselama looks set to be one of Ngetich's strongest challengers. The 2023 world cross-country silver medallist is ranked fourth in the world for road running and is the fastest Copenhagen entrant this year, having won the Lisbon Half Marathon in 1:04:48 in March. Her 1:04:21 PB, set at the same race last year, places her among the fastest half-marathon runners in the field.

She finished fourth at the inaugural World Road Running Championships in Riga three years ago, so will be keen to make it on to the podium this time.

Her Ethiopian teammate Ftaw Zeray has also impressed this season. She won in Paris in a PB of 1:05:12 in March and followed that with second place in Istanbul the following month. Zeray finished sixth in the half marathon at the 2023 World Road Running Championships.

Kenya’s strength extends well beyond Ngetich. Lilian Kasait Rengeruk owns a 1:03:32 PB, achieved when finishing third behind Ngetich in Valencia in 2024, making her the fourth-fastest woman in history. She has also run 29:32 for 10km and finished fifth in the Olympic 10,000m in Paris.

Daisilah Jerono and Veronica Loleo both set significant PBs in Berlin in March, finishing second and third respectively behind Likina Amebaw. Jerono ran 1:05:21 and Loleo 1:05:35, performances that put both firmly among the leading contenders in Copenhagen.

Weini Kelati Frezghi also arrives in strong form over the distance, having reduced the US half-marathon record to 1:06:04 when finishing second in Barcelona in February.

Slovenia’s Klara Lukan has enjoyed a breakthrough road season too. After running a national half-marathon record of 1:06:43 behind Esther Chebet in Malaga, she became the first European woman to break 30 minutes for 10km on the roads, clocking a European record of 29:51 in Laredo.

Uganda’s Chebet arrives with winning form over the distance, having clocked a PB of 1:06:33 to beat Lukan in Malaga in March, while Uruguay’s Julia Paternain brings a different kind of championship pedigree. Paternain earned marathon bronze at last year’s World Championships in Tokyo and improved her national record to 2:25:47 this April.

Norway’s Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal brings considerable championship experience. The multiple European medallist won the European half-marathon title in 2024 and has also proved herself on demanding road courses, including victory at the New York City Half Marathon that same year.

Ngetich’s performances across 2026 make her the athlete everyone else will be looking to challenge, and Copenhagen offers her an opportunity to put together one of the most compelling all-round distance-running seasons of recent years. Gebreselama arrives with the fastest half-marathon time of the season among the entrants, while Rengeruk, Jerono and Loleo give Kenya formidable depth.

Jon Mulkeen for World Athletics