Sawe held off world record holder Jacob Kiplimo for the win with Ingebrigtsen eventually completing his “definitely too long” half-marathon debut after initially stopping at 10km.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen stopped 10km into the Copenhagen Half Marathon on Sunday (15 September) as Kenya’s reigning world half marathon champion Sabastian Sawe took victory ahead of Jacob Kiplimo.

Ingebrigtsen was making his half-marathon debut in the Danish capital, just 36 hours after winning the 1500m at the Diamond League Final in Brussels, but world record holder Kiplimo was the pre-race favourite.

Olympic 10,000m silver medallist Berihu Aregawi, another winner in Brussels on Friday, and Jakob’s brother Filip were among the pacemakers with the world record very much in mind.

After 8km, the lead group was down to seven with Aregawi the only pacemaker left. And as they reached 10km in 27:27, Ingebrigtsen stopped suddenly. That was a new Norwegian 10km record, well inside his previous personal best of 27:54.

The two-time Olympic champion on the track kept going and, cheered on by a big crowd, continued in stop-start fashion before eventually finishing 34th in 63:13.

Aregawi dropped out at 12km to leave Kiplimo at the front with Kenyan runners Sawe, Isala Lasoi and Amos Kurgat.

Sawe, who won the world title in Riga last October, broke clear with Lasoi at 17km but the Ugandan star fought his way back to the front. He duelled with Sawe in the closing stages, but the Kenyan was the stronger and crossed the line in 58:05, just outside the course record.

Kiplimo was four seconds behind with Lasoi one second further back.

Ingebrigtsen said afterwards, “Twenty-one km is definitely too long! I’m definitely not going to try again for a couple of years. It’s fun but tough. I tried to stay with the leading group for as long as I could… I’d say the first 5km was definitely fast but I think they ran maybe a little bit slower than they said they were going to do the first couple of kilometres. Then they did a kick so I think from 5-10km was pretty fast.

“I think I did a Norwegian record for 10km and that’s good enough for me today. I had no chance mentally and my legs are definitely too tired. I’m not prepared enough to stay the whole distance today but a lot of fun to finish off my season. Now I don’t have a choice, I’m forced to cool down and relax a little bit.”

Ingebrigtsen gave thanks to the crowd for helping him complete the race. He added, “It was just amazing. I would never have been able to finish and definitely not that fast if it wasn’t for the crowd. So many people lining the course and they were cheering for me and the rest of the guys. A great event and great experience even though it’s extremely tough.”

Margaret Kipkemboi, who just missed out on the podium on the track at Paris 2024, made it a Kenyan double in the women’s race with victory in 65:11.