Kenya’s Agnes Jebet Ngetich produced a world-record performance in the women’s half marathon at the World Athletics Road Running Championships in Copenhagen, winning in 1:05:15.

Ngetich took control almost immediately and turned the championship race into a remarkable solo pursuit of the record. She was already 10 seconds clear at 5km, reached in 15:12, and had extended the advantage to 26 seconds by 10km. By 15km, the gap had grown to more than 50 seconds.

Crossing the line in 1:05:15, Ngetich took one second off the previous women-only half marathon world record of 1:05:16, set by fellow Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir when she won the World Half Marathon Championships in Gdynia, Poland, on 17 October 2020. Jepchirchir’s record had therefore stood for almost six years.

There is an important distinction with the half-marathon record. World Athletics recognises a separate women-only record, for races in which women do not compete alongside male runners. The faster overall women’s half-marathon record has been achieved in a mixed race. Ngetich’s Copenhagen performance specifically broke the women-only world record.

Ngetich’s dominance was underlined by the winning margin. Kenya’s Veronica Loleo took silver in 1:06:05, 50 seconds behind, while Rwanda’s Florence Niyonkuru won bronze in a national record of 1:06:08.

The victory gave Ngetich another major global title and provided one of the outstanding performances of the Copenhagen championships — a championship victory accompanied by a world record that had survived since 2020.

The 1:05:15 performance is subject to the usual World Athletics ratification procedure.