Nearly 500 to hit the road in Copenhagen

Global champions Jimmy Gressier, Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Agnes Ngetich are among the 496 athletes entered for the World Athletics Road Running Championships Copenhagen 26, scheduled for September 19-20.

Athletes from 85 federations, along with the World Athletics Athlete Refugee Team (ART), will compete at the championships, underlining the growing appeal of the event across the globe.

A total of 270 men and 226 women have been entered for the championships in the Danish capital, where world titles in the road mile, 5km and half marathon will be contested.

World 10km record-holder Ngetich heads to Copenhagen seeking another global title to add to the world cross-country crown she won in Tallahassee in January. She will compete in the half marathon, an event in which she holds the Kenyan record of 1:03:04, a mark that ranks second on the world all-time list.

She will line up alongside Ethiopia’s Tsigie Gebreselama, who finished fourth at the last World Road Running Championships in Riga in 2023. The entry list also includes Uruguay’s world marathon bronze medallist Julia Paternain.

North American record holder Weini Kelati leads the US team, which includes five other athletes who competed at the USATF Half Marathon Championships. As announced in March, scoring will be limited to four athletes: Kelati and three runners who were misdirected late in the qualification race, Jess McClain, Emma Grace Hurley and Ednah Kurgat. Carrie Ellwood and Annie Rodenfels will compete as non-scoring athletes.

Kenya’s Nicholas Kipkorir, who sits fourth on the world all-time list after running 58:08 in Lisbon in March, is entered for the men’s half marathon, along with Sweden’s world 10,000m silver medallist Andreas Almgren, who set a European record of 58:41 last year. They will face a strong field that includes Uganda’s multiple Olympic and world gold medallist Joshua Cheptegei and Kenya’s world half-marathon silver medallist Daniel Ebenyo.

France’s world 10,000m champion Gressier leads the entries for the 5km, an event in which he came close to the world record by running 12:51 in Lille in April. Ethiopia’s Addisu Yihune finished second that day in 12:54, and the pair will renew their rivalry in Copenhagen.

They will be joined by Norway’s Olympic 5000m champion Ingebrigtsen, who captured the European 5000m title last month on his return from injury. Ingebrigtsen is among the athletes targeting a global double on consecutive weekends, competing at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship on September 11-13 before the World Road Running Championships.

The women’s 5km field includes Kenya’s Caroline Nyaga, Ethiopia’s Likina Amebaw, Dutch European record-holder Diane van Es, Belgium’s Jana Van Lent and Uganda’s Charity Cherop, who won 5000m gold and 3000m bronze at last month’s World Under-20 Championships.

The women’s mile features Ethiopia’s two-time world indoor champion Freweyni Hailu, who claimed silver in Riga in 2023, as well as the USA’s Addison Wiley and Australia’s Linden Hall.

Portugal’s world 1500m champion Isaac Nader is entered for the men’s mile alongside the USA’s Olympic 1500m bronze medallist Yared Nuguse and Spain’s world indoor 800m bronze medallist Mohamed Attaoui.

Mass-participation races will be staged alongside the elite events, giving recreational runners the opportunity to tackle the championship courses while watching many of the world’s best athletes compete as part of the global festival of road running.