1996 IAAF World Road Relay Championships

The 1996 IAAF World Road Relay Championships was the third edition of the global, international marathon relay competition, organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).^[1] The event took place on 13–14 April on the streets of Copenhagen, Denmark with the participation of 282 athletes (174 men and 108 women) from 34 nations. The women's race took place on Saturday 13 April and the men's race took place on Sunday 14 April.^[2]

Each national team consisted of six athletes, who alternately covered six stages to complete the 42.195 km marathon distance. The first, third and fifth stages were of 5 km, the second and fourth stages were of 10 km, and the final stage covered the remaining 7.195 km.^[3]

In the women's race, Genet Gebregiorgis and Berhane Adere established a 38-second lead for Ethiopia over the first two legs. The nation dominated the competition to win in a championship record of 2:16:04, having the fastest runner in every stage, bar an interruption of Italy's Silvia Sommaggio on the third leg. The Romanian and Japanese teams traded places for the runner-up spot, but a decisive final leg by Elena Fidatov brought the Romanians the silver medals by a margin of 17 seconds.

In the men's race, it was the Kenyan team that dominated, with and Joseph Kimani establishing a lead of 41 seconds over the first two stages and grabbing the fastest time in the fifth stage. The Brazilians closed the gap slightly in the mid-race thanks to , but ultimately ended up runners-up with a time of 2:01:24 hours behind Kenya's 2:00:40. Ethiopia and the hosts Denmark battled for the bronze position throughout the race but a strong final leg by Ethiopia's Worku Bikila resulted in a time of 2:01:50 hours, putting clear distance between the two teams.

Medal summary[]

Event	Gold		Silver		Bronze
Men's race	Kenya (5 km – 13:45) Joseph Kimani (10 km – 28:33) (5 km – 14:33) (10 km – 29:00) (5 km – 14:09) (7.195 km – 20:40)	2:00:40	Brazil Wander Moura (5 km – 13:49) Vanderlei de Lima (10 km – 29:10) Edgar de Oliveira (5 km – 14:26) (10 km – 28:31) (5 km – 14:26) Ronaldo da Costa (7.195 km – 21:02)	2:01:24	Ethiopia (5 km – 13:58) (10 km – 29:20) Sisay Bezabeh (5 km – 14:23) Abraham Assefa (10 km – 29:13) (5 km – 14:42) Worku Bikila (7.195 km – 20:14)	2:01:50
Women's race	Ethiopia Genet Gebregiorgis (5 km – 15:53) Berhane Adere (10 km – 32:21) Ayelech Worku (5 km – 16:15) Gete Wami (10 km – 32:25) Getenesh Urge (5 km – 16:00) Luchia Yishak (7.195 km – 23:10)	2:16:04	Romania (5 km – 15:59) Mariana Chirila (10 km – 33:21) (5 km – 16:16) Iulia Negură (10 km – 32:53) (5 km – 16:33) Elena Fidatov (7.195 km – 23:39)	2:18:41	Japan Yukiko Okamoto (5 km – 15:56) Naomi Sakashita (10 km – 32:56) (5 km – 16:11) (10 km – 33:38) (5 km – 16:08) Eri Yamaguchi (7.195 km – 24:09)	2:18:58

Stage winners[]

Stage	Distance	Men	Time	Women	Time
1	5 km	(KEN)	13:45	Genet Gebregiorgis (ETH)	15:53
2	10 km	Joseph Kimani (KEN)	28:33	Berhane Adere (ETH)	32:21
3	5 km	(ZIM)	14:13	Silvia Sommaggio (ITA)	16:00
4	10 km	(BRA)	28:31	Gete Wami (ETH)	32:25
5	5 km	(KEN)	14:09	Getenesh Urge (ETH)	16:00
6	7.195 km	Worku Bikila (ETH)	20:14	Luchia Yishak (ETH)	23:10

Results[]

Men's race[]

Rank	Team	Time
1	Kenya Joseph Kimani	2:00:40
2	Brazil Wander Moura Vanderlei de Lima Edgar de Oliveira Ronaldo da Costa	2:01:24
3	Ethiopia Sisay Bezabeh Abraham Assefa Worku Bikila	2:01:50
4	Denmark Dennis Jensen Carsten Jørgensen	2:02:38
5	Russia Sergey Fedotov	2:03:37
6	Mexico Benjamín Paredes	2:03:48
7	Japan Tomoaki Kunichika Takayuki Inubushi Hisayuki Okawa	2:03:52
8	United Kingdom Jon Solly Christian Stephenson	2:03:55

Women's race[]

Rank	Team	Time
1	Ethiopia Genet Gebregiorgis Berhane Adere Ayelech Worku Gete Wami Getenesh Urge Luchia Yishak	2:16:04
2	Romania Mariana Chirila Iulia Negură Elena Fidatov	2:18:41
3	Japan Yukiko Okamoto Naomi Sakashita Eri Yamaguchi	2:18:58
4	Italy Patrizia Di Napoli Simona Viola Silvia Sommaggio Maura Viceconte Sara Ferrari Roberta Brunet	2:20:02
5	Norway Hilde Stavik Gunhild Halle Grete Kirkeberg Stine Larsen Anita Håkenstad	2:20:56
6	Russia Nina Belikova Nadezhda Galyamova Lyudmila Petrova	2:21:30
7	United Kingdom Suzanne Rigg Angie Hulley Sarah Bentley	2:21:41
8	France Marie-Pierre Duros Rosario Murcia Isabelle Guillot Maria Rebelo	2:22:53

References[]