Thirty Years of African Gold, Ended by a Swede
Andreas Almgren kicked to 58:06 in Copenhagen, a European record and the first non-African World Half title in three decades.
Thirty years. That is how long the World Half Marathon Championships had gone without a non-African winner. Andreas Almgren ended it in Copenhagen with a kick that left Nicholas Kipkorir and Joshua Cheptegei behind him and a clock reading 58:06, a European record.
58:06. World gold to go with his European 10,000m crown and a Tokyo bronze.
The Americans made their own noise. Conner Mantz ran the front half like a man with nothing to protect, going through 10k with the leaders in 27:53, which is 58:50 pace, and dragged the US men to team bronze for his trouble.