At 7:00 on April 16, Beijing International Running Festival - Beijing Half Marathon 2023 kicked off at Tian'anmen Square. Classic race routes, coupled with agreeable weather conditions, facilitated the performance of runners at the event. Brian Kwemoi Kirui from Kenya won the men's half marathon, lowering the all-time record for the event by five minutes to 0:59:37. He was the first athlete ever to finish Beijing Half Marathon within an hour. In the same division, Yang Kegu from China came in second with a record of 1:03:41. Yang was followed by Peng Jianhua, the former record holder who completed the race within 1:05:08. In the women's half marathon, all of the top three places were taken by participants from China, with Liu Min ranking the first with a record of 1:11:07, followed by Xia Yuyu and Xu Bingjie.

Award ceremony for the men's half marathon

Award ceremony for the women's half marathon

This year's event consisted of two divisions, namely the men's half marathon and the women's half marathon, with a total of about 20,000 participants. Since the registration opened on March 15, over 50,000 people from 27 countries and regions, including China, Japan, the United States, Germany, France, Canada, Spain, India, South Korea, and Singapore, registered for the competition. Among them, male runners accounted for 74 percent while female runners accounted for 26 percent.

A finisher medal

The design of the half marathon route takes both cultural landmarks and track conditions into account to provide unique experiences for the contestants. Setting off from Tian'anmen Square, the contestants went through East Chang'an Avenue, East 2nd Ring Road, North 2nd Ring Road's Side Road, Andingmen Outer Street, Anding Road, Aoti Middle Road, Beichen Road, Hujing East Road, Datun North Road, Tianchen East Road, Guojiatiyuchang North Road, all the way up to the Landscape Avenue in Olympic Park Central Area.

Foreign contestants taking photos at the finishing line

Rest area set up by the Organizing Committee for runners to recover after the match

This event continued last year's practice of employing 100 smart facilities for face recognition and body temperature measurement. The facilities, which are placed at the supplies collection area before the competition, the entrance of the route, and the collection area for finisher medals after the competition, measured the contestants' body temperature and verified their identities. The facial recognition and verification system was integrated with the data of a timing chip system for the first time, effectively discouraging foul play such as substitution or unauthorized participation during the match.

Foreign finishers posing for photos in front of the Bird's Nest

The design of the finisher medals is inspired by the fact that Beijing is the world's first dual-Olympic city. The front side of each of the medals features the Bird's Nest, the main venue for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, whereas the back side features the National Speed Skating Oval (also known as the "Ice Ribbon") for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. The seamless integration of the two iconic Olympic landmarks of Beijing expresses the beautiful vision of "A Better Future for the Dual-Olympic City."

(Sources: Beijing Daily, The Beijing News)