MERCY CHEBWOGEN CRUSHES COPENHAGEN MARATHON RACE RECORD ON DEBUT; TADESSE KASSA TAKES MEN’S TITLE

Mercy Chebwogen of Kenya ran 2:22:08 to win the 2026 Copenhagen Marathon on May 10, setting a new race record and a Danish All-Comers' Record in her first race at the marathon distance. Ethiopia's Tadesse Kassa won the men's race in 2:08:26, finishing three seconds outside the course record.

The 30-year-old Chebwogen, who placed third at the Paris Half Marathon in March, hung off the lead pack through halfway. The frontrunners passed 10K in 32:23 and the half in 1:09:21, with seven women tracking the male pacemaker on sub-2:19 pace. Chebwogen sat almost a minute behind.

She moved at 28 kilometers and caught the leaders. By 35 kilometers she had built a 25-second gap on Tigist Gashaw of Bahrain, eventually crossing the line more than a minute clear. The win came on her 30th birthday.

Gashaw finished second in 2:23:07. Fantu Shugi of Ethiopia took third in 2:24:38.

The men's race stayed compact through 30 kilometers, with Reuben Rono setting the pace and a group of seven still in contention. Kassa, 22, and Kenya's Vincent Mutai broke clear over the final kilometers. Kassa held on for a four-second win and a personal best, with Mutai second in 2:08:30, also a PB and a repeat of his 2025 placing.

"I gave everything I had; there was nothing left in me," Kassa told reporters. "I am incredibly happy to win here today. I hadn't counted on it. This is undoubtedly the biggest win of my career."

Ethiopia's Dejene Weyfen took third in 2:09:14. Omar Hassan, running for the World Athletics Refugee Team, placed ninth in a personal best of 2:12:20.

Conditions favored fast running, with overcast skies and temperatures around 12 degrees Celsius. The race drew 22,424 starters, the largest marathon ever staged on Danish soil. The previous men's course record of 2:08:23, set by Berhane Tsegay in 2022, survived by three seconds; Chebwogen's 2:22:08 lowered the women's mark by more than a minute.

National titles went to two Sparta runners: Valdemar Meiling (2:18:32) in the men's race and Luna Andrea Paltorp (2:36:56) in the women's. Copenhagen will host the World Athletics Road Running Championships on September 19 and 20, with an expected 65,000 participants across the mile, 5K, and half marathon.

The win confirms Chebwogen as a marathon prospect months after her half-marathon breakthrough.