Hellen Obiri bided her time and then struck to pull away from a star-studded women's lead pack that included American Emma Bates.

The middle miles were the fastest in race history and the finish was one for the ages as there were 7 lead changes in the final 1.2 miles.

Mark your calendars, the February 19th race is something athletics fans can get excited about. The marathon WR holder Brigid Kosgei vs. the half marathon WR holder in Ababel Yeshaneh headline the women's race. For the men, we get a replay of gold vs silver from World Half in Jacob Kiplimo vs. Kibiwott Kandie. Every time Yeshaneh and Kosgei have raced so far, one of them has broken the WR. And Sara Hall of the US is making the trip.

Four different women have broken the world record in the half marathon in recent years and all four of those women will be running in Gdynia on Saturday, which makes this one of the greatest -- if not the greatest -- half marathon fields ever assembled.

Yeshaneh took 20 seconds off the old word record and won in 64:31 as Kosgei also broke the old WR. *MB: 2020 RAK Half Discussion Thread *MB: Kosgei breaks Half Marathon World Record and Loses race!  

The world's best marathoner Brigid Kosgei is racing Chicago and that means Paula Radcliffe's 17-year-old course record of 2:17:18 is in jeopardy. Could Deena Kastor's American record also fall?

The NOP tracksters brought it in the half marathon.

The NOP tracksters brought it in the half marathon.

The men's field includes Jake Robertson, Shadrack Kipchirchir, Stephan Sambu, Callum Hawkins, Lopez Lomong while Huddle will face Sandrafelis Chebet Tuei (30:57 PB), Emily Sisson, Ababel Yeshaneh (30:35 PB) and Gwen Jorgensen.