# 1997 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships

The 6th IAAF World Half Marathon Championships was held on October 4, 1997, in the city of Košice, Slovakia. A total of 228 athletes, 144 men and 84 women, from 45 countries took part. Detailed reports on the event and an appraisal of the results was given.
Complete results were published.

## Medallists

| Event | Gold | Gold | Silver | Silver | Bronze | Bronze |
| Individual |||||||
| Men | Shem Kororia (KEN) | 59:56 | Moses Tanui (KEN) | 59:58 | Kenneth Cheruiyot (KEN) | 1:00:00 |
| Women | Tegla Loroupe (KEN) | 1:08:14 | Cristina Pomacu (ROU) | 1:08:43 | Lidia Șimon (ROU) | 1:09:05 |
| Team |||||||
| Team Men | Kenya | 2:59:54 | South Africa | 3:03:34 | Ethiopia | 3:03:46 |
| Team Women | Romania | 3:27:40 | Kenya | 3:27:57 | Japan | 3:31:38 |

## Race Results
### Men's

| Rank | Athlete | Nationality | Time | Notes |
| | Shem Kororia | Kenya | 59:56 | CR |
| | Moses Tanui | Kenya | 59:58 | |
| | Kenneth Cheruiyot | Kenya | 1:00:00 | |
| 4 | Hendrick Ramaala | South Africa | 1:00:07 | |
| 5 | Mohamed Mourhit | Belgium | 1:00:18 | |
| 6 | Gert Thys | South Africa | 1:00:23 | |
| 7 | Abraham Assefa | Ethiopia | 1:00:52 | |
| 8 | Luís Jesús | Portugal | 1:00:56 | NR |
| 9 | Stefano Baldini | Italy | 1:01:01 | |
| 10 | Laban Chege | Kenya | 1:01:13 | |
| 11 | Lemma Alemayehu | Ethiopia | 1:01:17 | |
| 12 | Michael Fietz | Germany | 1:01:18 | |
| 13 | Stéphane Schweickhardt | Switzerland | 1:01:26 | |
| 14 | Eduardo do Nascimento | Brazil | 1:01:27 | |
| 15 | Wilbroad Axweso | Tanzania | 1:01:28 | |
| 16 | Jan Pešava | Czech Republic | 1:01:31 | |
| 17 | Alejandro Gómez | Spain | 1:01:36 | |
| 18 | Tesfaye Tola | Ethiopia | 1:01:37 | |
| 19 | Tendai Chimusasa | Zimbabwe | 1:01:42 | |
| 20 | Jean-Pierre Lautredoux | France | 1:01:43 | |
| 21 | Bartolomé Serrano | Spain | 1:01:44 | |
| 22 | Nicolae Negru | Romania | 1:01:45 | |
| 23 | Osamu Nara | Japan | 1:02:06 | |
| 24 | Abel Chimukoko | Zimbabwe | 1:02:07 | |
| 25 | Herder Vázquez | Colombia | 1:02:09 | |
| 26 | Joshua Chelanga | Kenya | 1:02:12 | |
| 27 | Michele Gamba | Italy | 1:02:13 | |
| 28 | Noriaki Igarashi | Japan | 1:02:15 | |
| 29 | Róbert Štefko | Slovakia | 1:02:15 | |
| 30 | Antonio Peña | Spain | 1:02:15 | |
| 31 | Yoshifumi Miyamoto | Japan | 1:02:16 | |
| 32 | Carlos de la Torre | Spain | 1:02:42 | |
| 33 | Elisvaldo de Carvalho | Brazil | 1:02:42 | |
| 34 | Carlos Grisales | Colombia | 1:02:43 | |
| 35 | Alene Emere | Ethiopia | 1:02:44 | |
| 36 | Antonio Armuzzi | Italy | 1:02:46 | |
| 37 | Imre Berkovics | Hungary | 1:02:46 | |
| 38 | Marco Gielen | Netherlands | 1:02:48 | |
| 39 | José Orlando Sánchez Guerrero | Colombia | 1:02:49 | |
| 40 | Tamás Kliszek | Hungary | 1:02:50 | |
| 41 | Ali Mabrouk El-Zaidi | Libya | 1:02:57 | |
| 42 | Makhosonke Fika | South Africa | 1:03:04 | |
| 43 | Giovanni Ruggiero | Italy | 1:03:06 | |
| 44 | Alcidio Costa | Portugal | 1:03:08 | |
| 45 | Alemayehu Girma | Ethiopia | 1:03:08 | |
| 46 | Fungai Kapanyota | Zimbabwe | 1:03:12 | |
| 47 | Hakim Bagy | France | 1:03:14 | |
| 48 | Ronny Ligneel | Belgium | 1:03:14 | |
| 49 | José Carlos Adán | Spain | 1:03:15 | |
| 50 | Joaquim Pinheiro | Portugal | 1:03:18 | |
| 51 | Zoltán Holba | Hungary | 1:03:19 | |
| 52 | Migidio Bourifa | Italy | 1:03:22 | |
| 53 | David Taylor | Great Britain | 1:03:24 | |
| 54 | Viktor Röthlin | Switzerland | 1:03:29 | |
| 55 | Valeriy Kuzman | Russia | 1:03:34 | |
| 56 | Rainer Huth | Germany | 1:03:39 | |
| 57 | Janko Benša | Yugoslavia | 1:03:41 | |
| 58 | Lee Troop | Australia | 1:03:43 | |
| 59 | João Junqueira | Portugal | 1:03:47 | |
| 60 | Alberto Chaíça | Portugal | 1:03:59 | |
| 61 | Alan Chilton | Great Britain | 1:03:59 | |
| 62 | Aleksandr Kuzin | Ukraine | 1:04:06 | |
| 63 | Pat Carroll | Australia | 1:04:09 | |
| 64 | Pavel Kokin | Russia | 1:04:10 | |
| 65 | Faustin Saktay | Tanzania | 1:04:29 | |
| 66 | Jeffrey Spillane | New Zealand | 1:04:31 | |
| 67 | Jens Karrass | Germany | 1:04:34 | |
| 68 | Anton Nikolesko | Russia | 1:04:35 | |
| 69 | Percy Sephoda | Lesotho | 1:04:35 | |
| 70 | Kokichi Kawamoto | Japan | 1:04:36 | |
| 71 | Jean-Pierre Monciaux | France | 1:04:36 | |
| 72 | Benno Piskur | Slovenia | 1:04:41 | |
| 73 | Petr Pipa | Slovakia | 1:04:42 | |
| 74 | Vladimír Vašek | Czech Republic | 1:04:44 | |
| 75 | Todd Reeser | United States | 1:04:45 | |
| 76 | Wiesław Figurski | Poland | 1:04:48 | |
| 77 | Vladimir Tsyamchik | Belarus | 1:04:52 | |
| 78 | Khomojoo Kapane | Lesotho | 1:04:58 | |
| 79 | Hansjörg Brücker | Switzerland | 1:04:59 | |
| 80 | Glynn Tromans | Great Britain | 1:05:00 | |
| 81 | Darrell General | United States | 1:05:10 | |
| 82 | Mykola Rudyk | Ukraine | 1:05:15 | |
| 83 | Józef Kazanecki | Poland | 1:05:23 | |
| 84 | Miroslav Vanko | Slovakia | 1:05:24 | |
| 85 | Drago Paripović | Croatia | 1:05:29 | |
| 86 | Markus Gerber | Switzerland | 1:05:29 | |
| 87 | Mark Steinle | Great Britain | 1:05:36 | |
| 88 | Ali Awad | Lebanon | 1:05:38 | |
| 89 | Ramiz Taipi | Yugoslavia | 1:05:46 | |
| 90 | Zsolt Bacskai | Hungary | 1:05:53 | |
| 91 | Vladimir Tonchinskiy | Belarus | 1:06:02 | |
| 92 | Jan Bláha | Czech Republic | 1:06:14 | |
| 93 | Daniel Ferreira | Brazil | 1:06:15 | |
| 94 | Robert Petro | Slovakia | 1:06:25 | |
| 95 | Vladimir Gusev | Kyrgyzstan | 1:06:30 | |
| 96 | Ian Hudspith | Great Britain | 1:06:35 | |
| 97 | Boris Batuyev | Belarus | 1:06:38 | |
| 98 | Marek Sukiennik | Poland | 1:06:41 | |
| 99 | Dov Kremer | Israel | 1:06:48 | |
| 100 | Yuriy Gichun | Ukraine | 1:06:51 | |
| 101 | Pavel Faschingbauer | Czech Republic | 1:06:51 | |
| 102 | Eric Morrison | United States | 1:06:59 | |
| 103 | Kopamo Pekile | Lesotho | 1:07:04 | |
| 104 | Sérgio da Silva | Brazil | 1:07:10 | |
| 105 | Neema Tuluway | Tanzania | 1:07:13 | |
| 106 | Amit Neʼeman | Israel | 1:07:14 | |
| 107 | Thabiso Ralekhetla | Lesotho | 1:07:17 | |
| 108 | Leonid Pykhteyev | Kyrgyzstan | 1:07:19 | |
| 109 | Ali Al-Dosari | Bahrain | 1:07:19 | |
| 110 | János Szemán | Hungary | 1:07:29 | |
| 111 | Jos Maes | Belgium | 1:07:40 | |
| 112 | Abdi Djama | France | 1:07:44 | |
| 113 | David Morris | United States | 1:07:46 | |
| 114 | Darius Gruzdys | Lithuania | 1:07:48 | |
| 115 | Robert Sádek | Slovakia | 1:07:51 | |
| 116 | Bogdan Krupa | Ukraine | 1:07:54 | |
| 117 | James Herald | United States | 1:08:01 | |
| 118 | Zarislav Gapeyenko | Belarus | 1:08:14 | |
| 119 | Macbeth Akakwansa | Uganda | 1:08:18 | |
| 120 | Sentso Retere | Lesotho | 1:08:27 | |
| 121 | Abdullah Al-Dosari | Bahrain | 1:08:48 | |
| 122 | Rustam Radjapov | Turkmenistan | 1:08:54 | |
| 123 | Vujadin Alempic | Yugoslavia | 1:09:15 | |
| 124 | Charygeldiy Allaberdiyev | Turkmenistan | 1:09:18 | |
| 125 | Hayk Khojumyan | Armenia | 1:09:28 | |
| 126 | Islam Dugum | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 1:09:51 | |
| 127 | Hidajet Bulic | Bosnia and Herzegovina | 1:09:51 | |
| 128 | Hsu Gi-Sheng | Chinese Taipei | 1:09:56 | |
| 129 | Mehdi Chebli | Lebanon | 1:10:03 | |
| 130 | Robert Prejnjak | Croatia | 1:10:04 | |
| 131 | Adra Mocha | Israel | 1:10:28 | |
| 132 | Ivica Škopac | Croatia | 1:11:36 | |
| 133 | Željko-Franjo Letonija | Croatia | 1:12:15 | |
| 134 | Dovletmomed Nazarov | Turkmenistan | 1:12:18 | |
| 135 | Hussein Awada | Lebanon | 1:14:03 | |
| 136 | Kaido Koppel | Estonia | 1:16:35 | |
| 137 | Jacques Diab | Lebanon | 1:18:11 | |
| 138 | Aleksandr Levdanskiy | Kyrgyzstan | 1:19:23 | |
| — | Sead Kondo | Bosnia and Herzegovina | DNF | |
| — | Tomix da Costa | Brazil | DNF | |
| — | Josip Lacković | Croatia | DNF | |
| — | Cyrille Ballester | France | DNF | |
| — | Adam Motlagale | South Africa | DNF | |
| — | Panayiotis Karimalis | Greece | DNS | |

### Women's

| Rank | Athlete | Nationality | Time |
| | Tegla Loroupe | Kenya | 1:08:14 |
| | Cristina Pomacu | Romania | 1:08:43 |
| | Lidia Șimon | Romania | 1:09:05 |
| 4 | Joyce Chepchumba | Kenya | 1:09:07 |
| 5 | Nuta Olaru | Romania | 1:09:52 |
| 6 | Katrin Heinig | Germany | 1:09:56 |
| 7 | Lyudmila Petrova | Russia | 1:10:02 |
| 8 | Rocío Ríos | Spain | 1:10:06 |
| 9 | Mari Sotani | Japan | 1:10:13 |
| 10 | Svetlana Zakharova | Russia | 1:10:29 |
| 11 | Delilah Asiago | Kenya | 1:10:36 |
| 12 | Noriko Geji | Japan | 1:10:37 |
| 13 | Hiromi Katayama | Japan | 1:10:48 |
| 14 | Aurica Buia | Romania | 1:11:01 |
| 15 | Alina Tecuţă/Gherasim | Romania | 1:11:02 |
| 16 | Petra Wassiluk | Germany | 1:11:03 |
| 17 | Viktoria Nenasheva | Russia | 1:11:14 |
| 18 | Iris Biba | Germany | 1:11:17 |
| 19 | Lucia Subano | Kenya | 1:11:39 |
| 20 | Hellen Kimaiyo | Kenya | 1:11:42 |
| 21 | Christine Mallo | France | 1:11:43 |
| 22 | Silvia Skvortsova | Russia | 1:11:53 |
| 23 | Makiko Ito | Japan | 1:12:08 |
| 24 | Lucilla Andreucci | Italy | 1:12:21 |
| 25 | Sonja Deckers | Belgium | 1:12:27 |
| 26 | Kore Alemu | Ethiopia | 1:12:30 |
| 27 | Eyerusalem Kuma | Ethiopia | 1:12:36 |
| 28 | Abebe Tola | Ethiopia | 1:12:42 |
| 29 | Laura Fogli | Italy | 1:12:43 |
| 30 | Mónica Pont | Spain | 1:12:44 |
| 31 | Helena Javornik | Slovenia | 1:12:51 |
| 32 | Nadir de Siqueira | Brazil | 1:13:05 |
| 33 | Katrina Price | United States | 1:13:07 |
| 34 | Ursula Jeitziner | Switzerland | 1:13:10 |
| 35 | Lydia Mafula | South Africa | 1:13:12 |
| 36 | Yelena Plastinina | Ukraine | 1:13:20 |
| 37 | María Luisa Muñoz | Spain | 1:13:33 |
| 38 | Lee-Ann McPhillips | New Zealand | 1:13:42 |
| 39 | Yelena Makolova | Belarus | 1:13:43 |
| 40 | Angela Joiner | Great Britain | 1:13:44 |
| 41 | Kristijna Loonen | Netherlands | 1:13:48 |
| 42 | Irina Šafářová | Russia | 1:13:53 |
| 43 | Sally Goldsmith | Great Britain | 1:14:08 |
| 44 | Leila Aman | Ethiopia | 1:14:15 |
| 45 | Sonia Maccioni | Italy | 1:14:18 |
| 46 | Line Kuster | France | 1:14:20 |
| 47 | Simone Kuster | France | 1:14:24 |
| 48 | Luciene de Deus | Brazil | 1:14:25 |
| 49 | Galina Karnatsevich/Baruk | Belarus | 1:14:42 |
| 50 | Tatyana Glazyr | Ukraine | 1:14:44 |
| 51 | Ludmila Melicherová | Slovakia | 1:14:45 |
| 52 | Susan Michelsson | Australia | 1:14:51 |
| 53 | Jenny Crain | United States | 1:15:05 |
| 54 | Maria Trujillo | United States | 1:15:08 |
| 55 | Alta Lohann | South Africa | 1:15:11 |
| 56 | Amanda Wright-Allen | Great Britain | 1:15:21 |
| 57 | Angelines Rodríguez | Spain | 1:15:23 |
| 58 | Natalya Galushko | Belarus | 1:15:26 |
| 59 | Lorraine Masuoka/Hochella | United States | 1:16:09 |
| 60 | Alla Zadorozhnaya | Belarus | 1:16:11 |
| 61 | Lete Yesus | Ethiopia | 1:16:34 |
| 62 | Ágnes Jakab | Hungary | 1:16:38 |
| 63 | Vilija Birbalaitė | Lithuania | 1:16:50 |
| 64 | Nina Korvryzkina | Ukraine | 1:16:56 |
| 65 | Stephanie Manel | France | 1:17:02 |
| 66 | Renee Kruse | United States | 1:17:11 |
| 67 | Dana Janecková | Slovakia | 1:17:45 |
| 68 | Monika Deverová | Czech Republic | 1:17:50 |
| 69 | Muriel Linsolas | France | 1:18:03 |
| 70 | Nili Avramski | Israel | 1:18:15 |
| 71 | Tracey Swindell | Great Britain | 1:19:40 |
| 72 | Alena Mocariová | Slovakia | 1:20:02 |
| 73 | Alena Pochybová | Slovakia | 1:21:22 |
| 74 | Anna Balosakova | Slovakia | 1:22:10 |
| 75 | Adelaide Malepa | Lesotho | 1:25:55 |
| 76 | Kristinka Marković | Croatia | 1:28:36 |
| 77 | Ekateríni Fotopoúlou | Greece | 1:33:29 |
| — | Yelena Mazovka | Belarus | DNF |
| — | Christina Mai | Germany | DNF |
| — | Jacky Newton | Great Britain | DNF |
| — | Patrizia Ragno | Italy | DNF |
| — | Elana Meyer | South Africa | DNF |
| — | Tatyana Dzhabrayilova | Ukraine | DNF |
| — | Agata Balsamo | Italy | DNS |

## Team Results
### Men's

| Rank | Country | Team | Time |
| | Kenya | Shem Kororia Moses Tanui Kenneth Cheruiyot | 2:59:54 |
| | South Africa | Hendrick Ramaala Gert Thys Makhosonke Fika | 3:03:34 |
| | Ethiopia | Abraham Assefa Lemma Alemayehu Tesfaye Tola | 3:03:46 |
| 4 | Spain | Alejandro Gómez Bartolomé Serrano Antonio Peña | 3:05:35 |
| 5 | Italy | Stefano Baldini Michele Gamba Antonio Armuzzi | 3:06:00 |
| 6 | Japan | Osamu Nara Noriaki Igarashi Yoshifumi Miyamoto | 3:06:37 |
| 7 | Zimbabwe | Tendai Chimusasa Abel Chimukoko Fungai Kapanyota | 3:07:01 |
| 8 | Portugal | Luís Jesús Alcidio Costa Joaquim Pinheiro | 3:07:22 |
| 9 | Colombia | Herder Vázquez Carlos Grisales José Orlando Sánchez Guerrero | 3:07:41 |
| 10 | Hungary | Imre Berkovics Tamás Kliszek Zoltán Holba | 3:08:55 |
| 11 | Germany | Michael Fietz Rainer Huth Jens Karrass | 3:09:31 |
| 12 | France | Jean-Pierre Lautredoux Hakim Bagy Jean-Pierre Monciaux | 3:09:33 |
| 13 | Switzerland | Stéphane Schweickhardt Viktor Röthlin Hansjörg Brücker | 3:09:54 |
| 14 | Brazil | Eduardo do Nascimento Elisvaldo de Carvalho Daniel Ferreira | 3:10:24 |
| 15 | Belgium | Mohammed Mourhit Ronny Ligneel Jos Maes | 3:11:12 |
| 16 | Russia | Valeriy Kuzman Pavel Kokin Anton Nikolesko | 3:12:19 |
| 17 | Slovakia | Róbert Štefko Petr Pipa Miroslav Vanko | 3:12:21 |
| 18 | Great Britain | David Taylor Alan Chilton Glynn Tromans | 3:12:23 |
| 19 | Czech Republic | Jan Pešava Vladimír Vašek Jan Bláha | 3:12:29 |
| 20 | Tanzania | Wilbroad Axweso Faustin Saktay Neema Tuluway | 3:13:10 |
| 21 | Ukraine | Aleksandr Kuzin Mykola Rudyk Yuriy Gichun | 3:16:12 |
| 22 | Lesotho | Percy Sephoda Khomojoo Kapane Kopamo Pekile | 3:16:37 |
| 23 | Poland | Wiesław Figurski Józef Kazanecki Marek Sukiennik | 3:16:52 |
| 24 | United States | Todd Reeser Darrell General Eric Morrison | 3:16:54 |
| 25 | Belarus | Vladimir Tsyamchik Vladimir Tonchinskiy Boris Batuyev | 3:17:32 |
| 26 | Yugoslavia | Janko Benša Ramiz Taipi Vujadin Alempic | 3:18:42 |
| 27 | Israel | Dov Kremer Amit Neʼeman Adra Mocha | 3:24:30 |
| 28 | Croatia | Drago Paripović Robert Prejnjak Ivica Škopac | 3:27:09 |
| 29 | Lebanon | Ali Awad Mehdi Chebli Hussein Awada | 3:29:44 |
| 30 | Turkmenistan | Rustam Radjapov Charygeldiy Allaberdiyev Dovletmomed Nazarov | 3:30:30 |
| 31 | Kyrgyzstan | Vladimir Gusev Leonid Pykhteyev Aleksandr Levdanskiy | 3:33:12 |
| — | Bosnia and Herzegovina | Islam Dugum Hidajet Bulic Sead Kondo | DNF |

### Women's

| Rank | Country | Team | Time |
| | Romania | Cristina Pomacu Lidia Șimon Nuta Olaru | 3:27:40 |
| | Kenya | Tegla Loroupe Joyce Chepchumba Delilah Asiago | 3:27:57 |
| | Japan | Mari Sotani Noriko Geji Hiromi Katayama | 3:31:38 |
| 4 | Russia | Lyudmila Petrova Svetlana Zakharova Viktoria Nenasheva | 3:31:45 |
| 5 | Germany | Katrin Heinig Petra Wassiluk Iris Biba | 3:32:16 |
| 6 | Spain | Rocío Ríos Mónica Pont María Luisa Muñoz | 3:36:23 |
| 7 | Ethiopia | Kore Alemu Eyerusalem Kuma Abebe Tola | 3:37:48 |
| 8 | Italy | Lucilla Andreucci Laura Fogli Sonia Maccioni | 3:39:22 |
| 9 | France | Christine Mallo Line Kuster Simone Kuster | 3:40:27 |
| 10 | Great Britain | Angela Joiner Sally Goldsmith Amanda Wright-Allen | 3:43:13 |
| 11 | United States | Katrina Price Jenny Crain Maria Trujillo | 3:43:20 |
| 12 | Belarus | Yelena Makolova Galina Karnatsevich/Baruk Natalya Galushko | 3:43:51 |
| 13 | Ukraine | Yelena Plastinina Tatyana Glazyr Nina Korvryzkina | 3:45:00 |
| 14 | Slovakia | Ludmila Melicherová Dana Janecková Alena Mocariová | 3:52:32 |
| — | South Africa | Lydia Mafula Alta Lohann Elana Meyer | DNF |

## Participation

The participation of 226 athletes (143 men/83 women) from 45 countries is reported.
* Armenia (1)
* Australia (3)
* Bahrain (2)
* Belarus (9)
* Belgium (4)
* Bosnia and Herzegovina (3)
* Brazil (7)
* Chinese Taipei (1)
* Colombia (3)
* Croatia (6)
* Czech Republic (5)
* Estonia (1)
* Ethiopia (10)
* France (10)
* Germany (7)
* Greece (1)
* Hungary (6)
* Israel (4)
* Italy (9)
* Japan (8)
* Kenya (10)
* Kyrgyzstan (3)
* Lebanon (4)
* Lesotho (6)
* Libya (1)
* Lithuania (2)
* Netherlands (2)
* New Zealand (2)
* Poland (3)
* Portugal (5)
* Romania (6)
* Russia (8)
* Slovakia (10)
* Slovenia (2)
* South Africa (7)
* Spain (9)
* Switzerland (5)
* Tanzania (3)
* Turkmenistan (3)
* Uganda (1)
* Ukraine (8)
* United Kingdom (10)
* United States (10)
* Yugoslavia (3)
* Zimbabwe (3)