The 2020 World Athletics Half marathon championship held in Gydnia, Poland was one of the most outstanding, in recent times if not from its inception in 1992.

Ten men ran under 60:00. Thirteen national records were broken not to mention thirty personal best attained in the championship.   Ugandan teenager Jacob Kiplimo not only won but also set the championship record and national record at 58:49. Equally, his time will act as the world record for under-20 in half marathon.  

Kibiwott Kandie of Kenya came second in a time of 58:54, after showing a spirited fight which reduced the leading pack significantly after 15km. Andmlack Belihu of Ethiopia resisted the blistering pace to closed the podium with a time of 59:32.   The race favorite Joshua Cheptegei finished fourth posting 59:21. He blamed the fatigue occasioned by world record attempts in 5,000 and 10,000m which were successful. Nonetheless, he was contented with his sub-hour run in half-marathon debut.  

Andmlak Belihu 59:21 ETH, Leonard Barsoton 59:34 KEN, Stephen Mokoka 59:36 S.Afica, Morhad Amdouni 59:42 FRN, Benard Kimeli 59:42 KEN, and Leul Gebresilase  of Ethiopia 59:45 were the other athletes inside the top ten.   Kandie led Kenyans to take the team title, teaming up with Barsoton and Kimeli their accumulative time of 2:58:10. took gold, Ethiopia took silver with 2:58:25 while Uganda took bronze in a time of 2:58:25.  

Peres Chepchirchir of Kenya broke her own women-only world record to win the championship at 1:05:16. Melat Yisak Kejeta of Germany became second in a national record of 1:05:18. Zeinab Yimer of Ethiopia completed the podium with a personal best of 1:05:19.  

The women's race was marred by falls which put former world record holder Jocyline Jepkosgei, Ababel Yeshaneh, and Netsanet Gudeta out of contention. However, despite the two falls Ethiopians cumulative time of 3:16:39 won the team title, besides smashing the championship record.   Kenya and Germany took silver and bronze respectively.