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Gemechu breaks course record at Copenhagen Half Marathon

sehay Gemechu set a course record while Amedework Walelegn made it an Ethiopian double at the Copenhagen Half Marathon, a World Athletics Elite Label Road Race, on Sunday (19).

Making the most of the flat course in Denmark’s capital city, Gemechu took 52 seconds off her almost two-year-old PB, running a dominant 1:05:08 to improve the course record set by Sifan Hassan in 2018 by seven seconds. Walelegn, meanwhile, won a much closer men's race, holding off a challenge from Kenya’s Keneth Renju to win by two seconds in 59:10.

Running behind her pacemaker Roy Hoornweg, who also paced Yalemzerf Yehualaw to her world half marathon record in Larne last month, Gemechu had her sights on the 1:05:15 race record set by the now double Olympic champion Hassan three years ago, but the big pre-event favourite wasn’t alone in the opening stages. Her fellow Ethiopians Hawi Feysa, Gete Alemayehu and Beyenu Degefa, plus Kenya’s Vivian Kiplagat, joined her in a lead group which went through 5km in 15:16 and by 10km (30:48) the pack was starting to stretch, with Alemayehu having been dropped and Gemechu still to the fore and looking comfortable.

A couple of kilometres later Gemechu, who finished fourth in the 2019 world 5000m final in Doha, had broken away and was running clear ahead of her compatriot Feysa, the 2017 U20 world cross country silver medallist. By 15km Gemechu, now running without her pacemaker, had a 13-second lead ahead of Feysa, with Kiplagat another 22 seconds back. That is how the positions remained to the finish line, but with Gemechu’s advantage having grown to half a minute.

Feysa, who has a 2:23:36 marathon PB from Dubai last year but was making her half marathon debut, finished second in 1:05:41, with Kiplagat clocking 1:06:07 to take 31 seconds off her PB in third. Degefa was fourth (1:08:15) and Ethiopia’s Yitayish Mekonene fifth (1:08:53).

“I was hoping to break my personal best and run close to 65 minutes, and beating Sifan Hassan’s race record of course is something special,” said Gemechu. “I am very happy. It was a bit windy, so I had to work hard.”

The men’s race saw a group of nine athletes, plus pacemaker Abel Sikowo, pass the 5km mark in 13:55 and the 10km point in 28:01. As Sikowo dropped back just before 15km it was the pre-race favourite Walelegn, who claimed bronze at last year’s World Half Marathon Championships in Gdynia, who took control, taking the field through that checkpoint in 42:15.

The podium was decided over the next kilometre, with Walelegn making a move along with Kenya’s Daniel Mateiko and Renju. With around two kilometres remaining, Walelegn tried to break away but with a glance over his shoulder he could see it wasn't enough to lose his rivals. Then it was Renju’s turn to push the pace and while Walelegn stuck close behind him, Mateiko was dropped and the race was down to two.

Covering Renju’s move, Walelegn was determined to take the top spot and with another look over his shoulder at 21km he strode down the final stretch to victory. Renju’s runner-up time of 59:12 was a PB and his first half marathon under the hour, while Mateiko was third in a PB of 59:25. The top four all ran under 60 minutes, with Ethiopia’s Abe Tilahun finishing fourth in a PB of 59:46, while Norway’s Zerei Kbrom, returning to the half marathon for the first time since 2016, ran a more than six-minute PB of 1:00:07 for fifth.

The event incorporated the Danish Championships, with Annah Ritah Nagadya (1:16:49) and Abdi Hakin Ulad (1:03:30) claiming the national titles.

Behind the elite action, the mass event had close to 20,000 entries.