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The World Athletics Half Marathon Championships is a biannual competition that, this year, takes place in Gdynia, Poland.

The event was due to take place on 29 March but was postponed until October due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

There will be plenty of world-class talent on show including Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei, making his debut in the men’s race. The 24-year old is set as the race favourite after smashing the men's 10,000m world record earlier this month at the NN World Record Day event in Valencia.

He will face stiff competition from fellow compatriot Jacob Kiplimo and Kenya’s Kibiwott Kandie, who recorded a world leading half marathon time of 58:38 in the RunCzech Half in September.

Meanwhile in the women’s race, Ethopia’s Netsanet Gudeta returns in hope of defending her title from the 2018 Championships. Hoping to stop her will be Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya, who took the title in 2016 and set a women’s only world record of 1:05.34 for the half marathon in Prague at the start of September.

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Ahead of this weekend’s World Half Marathon Championships, GB middle-distance legend Steve Cram recently organised the Fast 5K event in Wigan at a motor racing track – also shown on the BBC – to give a chance to British athletes to tune up for this weekend’s event. Cram also explained that the signs are that road running events are the coming thing in athletics.

“It’s been announced that there’s going to be a World Championship for road races at 5k and 10k – not just the half marathon,” said Cram, who had assistance from World Athletics in putting on the Fast 5K. “So cities are going to start bidding for that and the first one is going to be in 2023.

“5k and 10k road races are going to become more of a kind of currency in the distance running world than they are now,” he added. “They’re there now, but once we start having world championships, you’ll start to see a lot more people trying to get their times down - which is great.

“Going forward, none of us know when we’ll get back to the days of the big mass participation events,” he said. “And those are the events that the elite runners rely on for the best competition – London Marathon, Great North Run, the elite racers are at the front of 30,000 people. So the elite runners have been losing out too.”

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British Athletics have had to make late changes to their team after confirmation last week that GB hopefuls Callum Hawkins, Charlotte Purdue and Stephanie Davis had all been forced to withdraw from the British team to travel to Poland due to injury.

Hawkins, the European half marathon leader, was due to make his first appearance at the Championships since the 2016, where he claimed an individual 15th position. He recently clocked 14:05 over 5k in the Fast 5K at Aston-in-Makerfield, which you can watch again here, and will be replaced in the team by fellow Scot Adam Craig.

Fellow European half marathon leader Purdue, who led the team in the 2018 Championships also misses out as does Davis, who was set to make her debut at the event. Neither athlete will be replaced in the team at this late stage. You can see the full team set to compete for Great Britain below.

Men:

Mohamud Aadan, Adam Craig, Tom Evans, Kristian Jones, Jake Smith

Women:

Becky Briggs, Clara Evans, Samantha Harrison

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Sifan Hassan, the Netherlands’ Ethiopian–born runner, easily beat Paula Radcliffe’s 18-year-old European record for the 10,000m at a meeting in Hengelo, in her adopted country.

Hassan took almost 25 seconds off Radcliffe’s record with a run of 29 min 36.67 secs and bettered her own personal best by more than 40 seconds in the process.

Hassan, who had already beaten the world hour record in Brussels last month, is now heading to the World Half-Marathon Championhips in Gdinya, Poland, this weekend.

The meeting had started with heavy rain, which ruined another record attempt by Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon, whose attempt on the world 1,000m record finished four seconds outside the Svetlana Masterkova’s world mark.

Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha’s ambitions of beating his personal best for the 5.000m (12 min 46secs), also floundered in the rain as he came in with a time of 13 min 12.84 sec.

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The 2021 Tokyo marathon, originally scheduled for 7 March next year, has been postponed until after the delayed 2020 Olympics, according to organisers, in another indication that the coronavirus pandemic will continue to impact sporting events in 2021.

Entry to Japan is still restricted and the country’s other rules on big events mean that the race is schedule to be run on 17 October “due to the various restrictions related to the novel coronavirus,” a Tokyo Marathon Foundation official said.

This year’s race was held under coronavirus conditions with only 200 elite runners taking part. The later date for the 2021 race would allow more competitors to enter, although exact numbers have not yet been set.

The Olympics are scheduled to open on 23 July and the marathon event is due to be held in Sapporo because of concerns over heat and humidity.

Organisers believe it can be done safely in Japan, although fresh waves of infection worldwide raise doubts over how many spectators will be able to attend from other countries.

BBC Red Button

BBC Sport will bring you live coverage from the World Half Marathon Championships from Gdynia, Poland. Coverage will be available on the Red Button, BBC Sport website and app plus BBC iPlayer live and available for catch-up for 30 days.

Saturday, 17 October

Men's and women's half marathons

09:50-15:30 - Red Button, BBC Sport website and app plus BBC iPlayer

BBC Sport

You might want to be the next Mo Farah, or just want to get fit and see how well you can do - either way, athletics can be the sport for you.

It includes a huge variety of disciplines, so whether you want to run, jump or throw you can find an activity that suits you.

Going long distance requires stamina and mental toughness. On the track, the 5,000m and 10,000m can become a real mind game of tactics, while the marathon - a 26.2-mile course outside the confines of an athletics stadium - is athletics' ultimate test of mental and physical endurance.

Thousands of people take part in 10k races, half marathons and marathons every year, take a look on the Run Britain, external website for more. For further information about the sport, check out BBC Sport's guide here.