US women take team silver at World Half, Hurley runs 1:06:23
Hurley, Kelati and McClain finished fifth, sixth and seventh to beat Ethiopia for the team medal behind Agnes Ngetich's world record.
The United States women took team silver at the World Road Running Championships half marathon in Copenhagen, finishing ahead of Ethiopia. LetsRun called it a stunner.
Emma Grace Hurley was the one who made it happen. She ran 1:06:23 for fifth place, the top American on the day, with Weini Kelati sixth and Jess McClain seventh. LetsRun and David Monti both report the time as an American women-only record, a mark set in a race with no men on the course. Monti says the USATF record is pending.
CITIUS MAG says the run takes more than a full minute off Hurley's previous best for the distance and moves her to No. 3 in US history, behind only Kelati and Taylor Roe. That is the part the previews missed. Hurley went into the race as the third American on paper and came out as the fastest one.
Ngetich was gone from the front
Agnes Ngetich won the title in 1:05:15, a women's-only world record by one second, as covered earlier. Monti reports the record is worth a $50,000 bonus. CITIUS MAG put her winning margin at 50 seconds.
Fellow Kenyan Veronica Loleo took silver in her first global championship appearance, and Rwanda's Florence Niyonkuru was third. CITIUS MAG notes Ngetich also won World Cross Country gold in January, so she closes the year with two global titles.
What it actually means
The team medal is scored off the individual places, so the Americans did not have to beat anyone in a separate race. They had to pack three runners close enough together to out-score Ethiopia, and 5-6-7 did it. Hurley, Kelati and McClain finishing within two places of each other is the whole story of the silver.
And the women's-only record is its own category. It applies to races without men in the field, where there is no one to draft off or chase, which is why Ngetich getting it by a single second was worth digging for. LetsRun says she had to do exactly that.
This run takes over a full minute off of Hurley’s previous PB in the event, vaulting her all the way up to No. 3 in U.S. history
US women go 5-6-7 to take stunner team silver over Ethiopia
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