Fully deserved, it was the winner of the women’s race at the CPH Half, Dutchwoman Sifan Hassan, who ran off with the majority of attention.
Sifan Hassan stole the headlines, as she won superbly, shattering the European record on the distance, even though, being primarily a 1,500 and 5,000 metres track athlete, she was an outsider to the win. But in fact, other remarkable records were also set in the streets of the Danish capital on September 16th. Following below is an overview of these records.
New Ethiopean record
Ababel Yeshaneh Brihane from Ethiopia placed second with 65:46 minutes. This marks a new Ethiopean record on the distance and is even faster than the previous race record at CPH Half.
World’s fastest under 20 years
Meseret Belete Tola from Ethiopia placed eighth at 67:51 minutes. She actually turned 19 on the very day of the race and her time is a new unofficial best mark for U20 on the half marathon distance. This means that she is the fastest runner ever under 20 years on the half marathon distance, but the IAAF will not recognize it as a world record, since the IAAF does not keep records for U20 on the half marathon distance.
Eight under magic limit
The men had eight runners under the magical 60 minutes, which was a record for the CPH Half.
Fastest top 10 ever
Looking at the men’s top 10, this is the fastest top 10 ever at a half marathon. Number ten was Alexander Mutiso with a time of 60:11 minutes.
Lots of PB’s
A staggering 57 percent of the top 30 runners achieved a new PB, and this trend continued all the way down through the field, where subsequently a lot of runners could ring the PB bell near the finish line.
All in all, the course at the CPH Half once again proved to be the world’s fastest.
Read: 11 year old European record smashed at the CPH Half
