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Closing time in Copenhagen for World Road Running Championships

Australian Athletics

The roads of Copenhagen will play host to 15 of Australia’s best distance runners – including New South Wales Institute of Sport (NSWIS) scholarship holders Rose Davies and Oliver Hoare– this weekend, where they will race to round out a historic year of Australian athletics at the final global championship of 2026.

At only the second instalment of the World Athletics Road Running Championships, which were first held in Riga in 2023, Australia’s team is a blend of youth and experience across the three disciplines on offer – One Mile, 5km and Half Marathon.

Haftu Strintzos (VIC, Adam Didyk) has enjoyed a breakthrough year with a national record in the marathon (2:06:20) and the fastest half marathon ever on Australian soil (60:41), now leading the charge in the Men’s Half Marathon where he will be joined by Jack Rayner (VIC, Nic Bideau), Edward Marks (VIC, self-coached) and Liam Boudin (QLD, Collis Birmingham).

“I’m really excited! This is my fourth team for Australia and it’s an honour to be donning the green and gold,” Strintzos said.

“Copenhagen is going be a huge opportunity, I want to be competitive and see what I can do.

“I knew I was capable of these kinds of performances, but until you get to race day, you never know how it’s going to go.”

Rayner is the highest ranked Australian with his national record of 59:53 and will arrive fresh off a training camp in Kenya, while the Women’s Half Marathon team consists of Ruby Smee (TAS, self-coached), Rebecca Lowe (NSW, Gary Howard) and Donve Viljoen (VIC, Steve Dinneen).

At the other end of the distance scale, the Women’s Mile sees Linden Hall (VIC, Ned Brophy-Williams) earn yet another Australian tracksuit alongside Commonwealth bronze medallist Sarah Billings (VIC, Nic Bideau) – combining to form one of the strongest duos in the field.

Australia will be represented by Oliver Hoare (NSWIS, Dathan Ritzenhein) and Jude Thomas (QLD, Collis Birmingham) in the Men’s Mile which looms as one of the strongest events on the program, featuring 1500m world champion Isaac Nader (POR) and Olympic medallist Yared Nuguse (USA).

Dual Commonwealth champion Rose Davies (NSWIS, Scott Westcott) will spearhead the Women’s 5km alongside Georgia Griffith (VIC, Nic Bideau), with Davies gunning for her first global medal after a career-best year. She won’t have it all her own way with the likes of World Ultimate champion Likina Amewbaw (ETH) bound to push the pace.

Commonwealth 10,000m champion Ky Robinson (QLD, Dathan Ritzenhein) will close out his year in the Men’s 5km, where he finds a rematch with Commonwealth 5000m champion Mathew Kipchumba Kipsang (KEN) and will go stride-for-stride with the likes of Jimmy Gressier (FRA), Biniam Mehary (ETH) – along with teammate Toby Gillen (VIC, Craig Mottram).

The 2026 World Athletics Road Running Championships will be held in Copenhagen, Denmark from September 19-20.

Australian viewers can tune in live and free via World Athletics+.