Half marathons gain a higher status among elite runners and exercisers

Both the Göteborgsvarvet and the Stockholm Half Marathon sold out early for this year and the race in Gothenburg is already fully booked for 2027.

- It is seen as a possible distance, but also a very challenging and fun distance, says the Swedish Athletics Federation's general secretary David Fridell.

With a background as CEO and head of operations at the Marathon Group, Sweden's largest organizer of exercise races, he has insight into both elite and exercise sports and justification for his claim that the status of the half-marathon distance has increased in both worlds.

- Regarding the elite side, the status of road running has generally been raised in recent years. Among other things, because championships of 10 kilometers and half marathons have been introduced on the road, both Swedish and international.

The challenge has been to attract the very best runners to the championships; according to Fridell, previously only the Olympics held absolute top class. For marathons, other races are still prioritized.

- But in the half-marathon, the fact that Andreas Almgren is running shows that the best runners want to take part in championships there as well. So it's going in the right direction, that the championships get a higher status.

The World Road Championships in their current form have only been held once before, in Riga in the fall of 2023, but the Half Marathon World Championships have been around longer. And Almgren himself, recent European Championship winner in the 10,000 meters, keeps the distance high.

- You can run fast on it both if you come from the marathon side but also, like me, from track running. It means that two different worlds meet on the same route.

Almgren agrees with Fridell that the status has been raised, but that for the elite it is still the case that many use the half-marathon races as a preparation for the upcoming marathon. As he himself is now doing ahead of the New York Marathon later this fall.

However, winning the WC is a great prestige, says the Swedish star, who wants and believes that he can be part of the fight for the gold.

- There are almost always strong names at the WC. The reigning champion is, for example, Sabastian Sawe, who was the first under two hours at the marathon last spring.

David Fridell believes in a continued lift for the distance.

- Every single time Andreas Almgren puts his shoes on display for a race, it means a lot for Swedish running and Swedish athletics.

That elite runners are more interested in running the races is no coincidence. The general secretary says that there has been a shift, both in Sweden and internationally. From organizers focusing very much on the large mass of runners, the experience for the elite has now been upgraded. He talks about a synergistic effect when the work with the big profiles inspires the exercisers to run, and that the elite class gets a boost at the same time.

The running boom in recent years is largely driven by young women. This is not least visible in the half-marathon races, in Stockholm recently the gender distribution was almost 50/50. The proportion of international runners also increases greatly, in the race just mentioned they amounted to 25 percent.

- In the past, you didn't go as a foreign runner to half-marathon races, but you definitely do these days.

- The half marathon is a very, very exciting distance, concludes Fridell.