Agnes Jebet Ngetich won the world half marathon title in Copenhagen on Sunday in 1:05:15, a women-only world record and the culmination of a weekend in which the Kenyan was never seriously troubled. The time removed a single second from the 1:05:16 Peres Jepchirchir ran at the 2020 championships in Gdynia, a mark that had survived six years of rapid improvement elsewhere on the road. Ngetich crossed the line 50 seconds clear of the field.
The race was effectively settled inside the first quarter of an hour. Ngetich moved decisively shortly after three kilometres, and no one went with her. From that point the contest behind her was for silver and bronze while Ngetich ran alone through the centre of Copenhagen on a bright, still morning, the sort of conditions the organisers had promised when they laid out a flat course through the heart of the city.
Veronica Loleo took silver in 1:06:05, with Florence Niyonkuru third in 1:06:08, a Rwandan national record. The depth of the field showed in the volume of records that fell behind the podium: eleven national records were set in the women's race alone, among them a 1:08:03 for 16th place by the 23-year-old Canadian Jadyn Keeler. Championship half marathons rarely produce that spread of marks, and the flat Copenhagen loop is likely to be requested for some time.
The United States produced the surprise of the team competition. Emma Grace Hurley, Weini Kelati Frezghi and Jessica McClain placed fifth, sixth and seventh, and the combined total was good enough for team silver behind Kenya. For an American women's road squad that has more often been a step off the medals at this championship, three runners inside the top seven represents a genuine shift rather than a favourable day.
Ngetich's record is narrow in margin but not in significance. She is the first woman to run under 1:05:30 in a women-only race, and the performance follows the 29:27 she ran in Herzogenaurach in 2025 to become the first woman under 30 minutes for 10km without male pacing. Asked afterwards what the title meant, she dedicated it to her mother. On current form the mixed-race half marathon record, which sits some way faster, is not an unreasonable next target.