The 2018

IAAF World Half Marathon Championships The World Athletics Half Marathon Championships is a biennial international half marathon competition organised by World Athletics. The competition was launched as the IAAF World Half Marathon Championships in 1992 and held annually until 2010. It ...

took place on 24 March 2018 in

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

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. It was the 23rd edition of the event and the 2nd time it was held in

Netsanet Gudeta Netsanet Gudeta Kebede (born 12 February 1991) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner who competes in road running and cross country running events. She was the bronze medallist at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in 2015. She shared in t ...

gave the standout performance of the competition, winning with a half marathon world record of 1:06:11 hours in a women-only race. This improved

Lornah Kiplagat Lornah Kiplagat (born 1 May 1974) is a Dutch professional long-distance runner. She was born in Kabiemit, Rift Valley Province, Kenya and came to the Netherlands in 1999. She gained Dutch citizenship in 2003 and has competed for the Netherland ...

's eleven-year-old championships record by 14 seconds and marked a personal improvement of over a minute. She led the Ethiopian women (alongside fifth and sixth placers Zeineba Yimer and Meseret Belete) to the team title with a combined time of 3:22:27 hours. The outright world record holder

Joyciline Jepkosgei Joyciline Jepkosgei (born 8 December 1993) is a Kenyan female long-distance runner who competes over distances from 10,000 metres to the marathon. She is the former half marathon world record holder in contests with mixed-gender fields with h ...

settled for second and her third-placed compatriot Pauline Kaveke Kamulu helped Kenya to second in the team competition. The best performance by a non-African-born runner was by Romania's Ancuţa Bobocel, who set a personal best in 15th place. In the men's race Kenya's Geoffrey Kipsang Kamworor took his third straight title in 1:00:02 hours (nearly a minute short of his championship record). Bahrain's Abraham Naibei Cheroben claimed the silver medal 20 seconds further back and

Aron Kifle Aron Kifle Teklu (born 20 February 1998) is an Eritrean long-distance runner. He is the bronze medallist from the 2018 World Half Marathon Championships in Valencia. Aron is also the silver medallist in the 10000m from both the 2016 World U20 ...

was the bronze medallist around half a minute short of the winner. The winning men's team, Ethiopia, contained no medallists but

Jemal Yimer Jemal Yimer Mekonnen (born 11 September 1996) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. He placed fourth at the 2017 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, and finished fifth at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics – Men's 10,000 metres. Y ...

Getaneh Molla Getaneh Tamire Molla (born 10 January 1994) is an Ethiopian male long-distance runner who competes over distances up to 10K. He was the gold medallist in the 5000 metres at the 2015 African Games. Geteneh's first success at national level came ...

and Betesfa Getahun rounded out the top six. The best non-African-born performer was

Julien Wanders Julien Wanders (born 18 March 1996) is a Swiss long-distance runner. He currently holds the European record for the half marathon with a time of 59:13, which was set at the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon in 2019 and the European record for the 10 ...

of Switzerland who managed eighth place in 1:01:03 hours. A total of 151 men (including 23 teams) finished the distance, with five men failing to finish the distance and three entrants being non-starters. A total of 122 women (including 19 teams) entered and started the race, with 117 finishers. Seven men's and seven women's

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were broken at the competition. Abdelaziz Guerziz of Algeria finished in 61st place but he was disqualified for four years in February 2019 with his results from 6 February 2018 onwards being disqualified.

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was defeated in the bidding process.

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was also in the running to host. In conjunction with the men's elite race, an open half marathon was held on the same course for 14,577 competitors.

Medallists

Race results

Results for the men's and women's elite races are shown below. Results for the open race are kept separately.

Men

Women

Team standings

Men

Women

Medal table (unofficial)

Participation

An unofficial count yields the participation of 279 athletes from 79 countries and the ''Athlete Refugee Team'', which is a record for this event. Although announced, the athletes from and did not show. * (1) * (4) * (3) * (3) * (1) *Athlete Refugee Team (2) * (5) * (3) * (9) * (4) * (1) * (1) * (1) * (8) * (1) * (1) * (2) * (5) * (1) * (1) * (2) * (4) * (1) * (2) * (2) * (6) * (3) * (1) * (10) * (1) * (10) * (10) * (1) * (1) * (7) * (10) * (3) * (10) * (6) * (4) * (1) * (9) * (1) * (8) * (8) * (3) * (1) * (3) * (2) * (2) * (2) * (1) * (3) * (1) * (1) * (1) * (2) * (2) * (7) * (6) * (3) * (1) * (1) * (1) * (10) * (10) * (2) * (1) * (1) * (1) * (1) * (1) * (8) * (2) * (7) * (2) * (8) * (1) * (1) * (2)

Notes

References

;Results
Results Half Marathon Men
IAAF. Retrieved 2018-02-26.
Results Half Marathon Women
IAAF. Retrieved 2018-02-26.
Team Standings Half Marathon Men
IAAF. Retrieved 2018-02-26.
Team Standings Half Marathon Women
IAAF. Retrieved 2018-02-26. {{2018 in athletics World Athletics Half Marathon Championships International athletics competitions hosted by Spain Sports competitions in Valencia