The running capital of the world. The World Championship will be the most important national sports and athletics event in the history of the Baltic States. It is also appreciated by high-level officials and, in preparation for this event, the president of the World Athletics Union Sebastian Ko symbolically declared Riga the 2023 world running capital at a press conference.
At the Freedom Monument and on the waterfront. The shortest distance of the World Championship will be the 1,609-meter-long mile race, which the athletes will start at the Latvian National Art Museum and finish at the foot of the Freedom Monument. On the other hand, for the 5 km and half marathon distances, the start will be at the foot of Akmens tilta, and the finish will be at the waterfront on November 11. A half-marathon relay of 10.2+10.9 kilometers in length has also been created for national sports runners, which can easily be done by two friends. The baton change will take place at the Daile Theater. Anyone who wants to run will be allowed to participate in the world championship for the first time in history, while the one we introduced will be allowed Rimi children’s day was a big news for the international federation, because it is not held elsewhere.
Will there be another world record? The world’s leading runners always aspire to participate in the half-marathon world championship. In the previous competition in 2020, Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo won the men’s competition, who a year later won bronze in the 10,000 m distance at the Tokyo Olympics, and broke the world record in the half marathon (57:31). On the other hand, women’s world records have been broken in the previous two world championships – in 2020, the Kenyan Peresa Yepchirchira won, beating the previous best result by almost a minute and setting the bar very high (1.05:16). A year later, she became the champion of the Tokyo Olympics in the marathon distance. In Riga, similar to Berlin and Tokyo, the track is very flat, the most hilly places are the Vanšu and Akmens bridges, which can contribute to good results. The silent dream of the organizing team is to see world records fall in Riga. The best chance for this to happen would be in the mile run, as road race records for this distance are recognized only from this year. Already on time, a very strong team of 22 athletes was announced by the running powerhouse Kenya, including Faith Kipyegon, who won the 1,500 and 5,000 meters at the world championships in August and broke world records three times this season.
Without a track record holder from Valmiera. Applications for participation in the world championship have been submitted by approximately 65 national federations, which is an impressive number, but with mass runners, the total number of member states will likely exceed 100. Among the home team, the rapidly progressing Agate Caune was expected to be the brightest star, competing in the 5 km distance. However, after the same distance in the semi-finals at the World Championships in Budapest, she felt pain in her pelvis. After consultations with doctors, it was decided not to compete in the final, but later she announced that she would end the season due to injury, in the Spring Rimi In the Riga marathon, she broke the Latvian record at this distance, and now the track will be identical, which could have given Agata an advantage.
Everyone can get three medals. Along with the athletes of the elite group, everyone can run in the championship and, as is customary in this type of competition, every finisher will receive a competition medal. The program is designed so that running enthusiasts can also run all three distances and have three world championship medals around their necks. The awards include motifs from Niklāvas Strunke’s painting A person walking into a roombut the championship shirt, which every participant will receive, depicts the work of the most important artist in the history of Latvian art, Vilhelm Purvīš In spring.
WORLD RUNNING CHAMPIONSHIPS
Saturday, September 30
10.00 – Rimi Children’s Day distances at the Freedom Monument
Sunday, October 1
10.00 – 5 km, mass start 11.30 – mile, mass start 11.50 – 5 km, elite group women 12.15 – 5 km, elite group men 13.00 – mile, elite group women 13.10 – mile, elite group men 13.30 – 21 km, elite groups women 14.15 – 21 km, elite group men 14.15 – 21 km, elite group men, mass start and relay
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