World Athletics Half Marathon Championships


The World Athletics Half Marathon Championships is an biannual half marathon competition organised by World Athletics. The competition was launched as the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in 1992. It was renamed the IAAF World Road Running Championships in 2006 and reduced in distance to a 20K run, but reverted to the half marathon distance the following year and to the original competition name the year after that. The competition was renamed to its current title in 2020 after the governing body rebranded itself moving away from the long-standing International Association of Athletics Federations moniker.
The competition replaced the female-only IAAF World Women's Road Race Championships, which was held annually from 1983 to 1991.

Editions

;Key:
YearEditionCityCountryDateNo. of athletesNo. of nations
19921st Newcastle upon TyneUnited Kingdom19–20 September20436
19932nd BrusselsBelgium3 October25449
19943rd OsloNorway24 September21547
19954th Montbéliard–BelfortFrance1 October24754
19965th Palma de MallorcaSpain29 September20953
19976th KošiceSlovakia3 October22845
19987th ZürichSwitzerland27 September23654
19998th PalermoItaly3 October19348
20009th VeracruzMexico12 November18252
200110th BristolUnited Kingdom7 October20252
200211th BrusselsBelgium5 May20160
200312th VilamouraPortugal4 October17149
200413th New DelhiIndia3 October15255
200514th EdmontonCanada1 October15643
200615th DebrecenHungary8 October14142
200716th UdineItaly14 October14841
200817th Rio de JaneiroBrazil12 October15743
200918th BirminghamUnited Kingdom11 October15839
201019th NanningChina16 October12330
201220th KavarnaBulgaria6 October14742
201421st CopenhagenDenmark29 March20156
201622nd CardiffUnited Kingdom26 March17449
201823rd ValenciaSpain24 March27980
202024th GdyniaPolandTBA
202225th YangzhouChinaTBA

History

The IAAF World Half Marathon Championships was first held in 1992. It comprised three races: the men's race, the women's race and the junior men's race. Furthermore, a team competition was held in each category, with the winners being decided by combining the performances of a country's top three finishers. The country with the lowest aggregate time won the team competition. The junior men's race was held in only the first and second editions, and was removed from the programme from 1994 onwards.
The competition went largely unchanged until 2006, when the competition was renamed as the IAAF World Road Running Championships. Aside from the name change, the significant difference was the distance of the race, changing from a half marathon to a 20 kilometres road race. The 20 km race featured only at the 2006 edition, and the half marathon distance returned for the 2007 World Road Running Championships.
On 29 November 2007, the IAAF announced that the name of the competition would revert to its original title of the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships, beginning with the 2008 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on 12 October 2008.
This competition should not to be confused with the IAAF World Women's Road Race Championships which were run from 1983 to 1991, or the IAAF World Road Relay Championships which took place between 1992 and 1998.
The 2020 edition of the competition was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Competition format

The competition is generally held every October. Runners compete on public roads which have been closed off to traffic specifically for the event. Prize money varies from US$30,000 to US$3000.

Records

TypeTimeAthleteNationalityEdition
Men's race59:08Geoffrey Kamworor2014
Women's race1:06:11 WRwoNetsanet Gudeta2018
Men's team2:58:58Geoffrey Kamworor
Bedan Karoki Muchiri
Simon Cheprot		2016
Women's team3:22:27Netsanet Gudeta
Zeineba Yimer
Meseret Belete		2018

TypeTimeAthleteNationalityEdition
Men's race58:59Zersenay Tadese2007
Women's race1:06:25Lornah Kiplagat2007
Men's team2:58:54Patrick Makau Musyoki
Evans Cheruiyot
Robert Kipkorir Kipchumba		2007
Women's team3:23:33Mary Jepkosgei Keitany
Pamela Chepchumba
Everline Kimwei		2007

Medalists

;Key

Men

Individual

Team competition

Women

Individual

Team competition

†: In 2009, the team from Russia was initially ranked 3rd, but fell behind Japan after the disqualification of Inga Abitova. Her competition results were annulled, beginning October 10, 2009, because of breaking anti-doping regulations.

Junior men

Individual

Team competition