Athletics Kenya has on Friday, August 21, 2026, named a 16-member squad for the World Road Running Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark scheduled for September 19-20, with Kenya set to compete in the half marathon, five kilometres and Road Mile.
Leading the team are 2023 world 10,000 metres silver medallist Daniel Simiu Ebenyo and world 10km record holder Agnes Ng’etich who will compete in the men’s and women’s half marathon, respectively.
Ebenyo will be joined by Gideon Rono, Nicholas Kipkorir and Michael Kiplangat, while Ng’etich will line up alongside Daisilah Jerono, Veronica Loleo and Lilian Kasait.
Ebenyo returns seeking to upgrade his 2023 half marathon silver to gold.
At the last championships in Riga, Latvia, he clocked 59:14, behind compatriot Sabastian Sawe, who won gold in a course-record 59:10. Samwel Mailu completed a Kenyan podium sweep with bronze in 59:19. With less than 200 metres remaining, Ebenyo had slowed and saluted Sawe, allowing him to win, citing sportsmanship.
The 30-year-old arrives in Copenhagen after winning bronze at the January World Cross Country Championships in Tallahassee in 28:45. His 21km victories include Laayoune (2019, 1:00:45), Istanbul (2023, 59:52), New Delhi (2023, 59:27), Berlin (2024, 59:30) and Chicago (June 7, 1:00:49).
Ng’etich, meanwhile, heads to Denmark after winning her first world title in Tallahassee, taking cross-country gold in 31:28. The 25-year-old also holds Kenya’s national half marathon record after winning Valencia in 1:03:04 in 2024, the second-fastest women’s half marathon time in history behind Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey’s 1:02:52 in Valencia in 2021.
The men’s 5km team comprises Charles Kiboino and newly crowned Commonwealth Games 5,000m champion Mathew Kipsang. The women’s 5km team features reigning Prague Half Marathon champion Caroline Gitonga and 2022 African Championships 10,000m champion Caroline Nyaga.
In the Road Mile, Kenya will field 2023 African 1,500m champion Brian Komen and former national 1,500m champion Daniel Munguti, while reigning national 1,500m champion Naomi Korir and 2018 World Under-20 1,500m silver medallist Mirriam Cherop will compete in the women’s race.
