Agathe Guillemot swept past long-time leader Freweyni Hailu in the final 150m to take the women's world title, while Robert Farken produced a near-identical late strike to deny Yared Nuguse in the men's race on the opening morning of the World Road Running Championships in Copenhagen.

It was a world away from the razzmatazz and exuberant presentation of Athlos in London the previous evening, but Saturday morning in Copenhagen served up two gripping head-to-heads built on nothing more than old-fashioned road racing drama.

In the women's race, Freweyni Hailu was always to the fore, pushing the pace strongly from halfway and appearing to be pulling clear of the 48-strong field. But Agathe Guillemot, the Frenchwoman, refused to be shaken off, and she drew level with around 150m remaining before powering away to win comfortably in 4:22.74 — a world lead for the year on ratified road mile courses. Hailu held on for silver in 4:24.35, Guillemot crossed the line smiling before then folding her arms as if to say "how about that?"

It continues an eye-catching turnaround for Guillemot, whose form on the track this summer had promised little of the sort. She placed only fourth in a slow, tactical 1500m final at the European Championships in Birmingham on 16 August, was sixth at the Diamond League Final in Brussels in September and eighth in the same event at the inaugural World Ultimate Championship in Budapest the following week. On the roads of Copenhagen, all of that form clicked into place.

For Hailu, it continues a familiar theme: she also won silver at the inaugural World Road Running Championships in Riga, Latvia, three years ago.

"Can you repeat. World Champion you say, oh my God," said Guillemot. "I felt great during the race. In the first part, I did not like to do extra effort. Just to follow the girl. There was no wind. When we turned for the last part I kept pushing. My coach said, when you are French, you keep pushing and pushing and pushing. And I believed in it. It is nice to finish with a medal. My vacation will be good after winning the gold.

"It has been a very long season with a lot of races. And a lot of trouble. My body felt good during the season. But it has not been easy. I learned a lot. It was not a perfect season, but it had a perfect end. Plan for 2027 is training, training, training. I love running. I love cross country. Indoor, outdoor. So maybe I will do European Cross Country in December."

Ireland's Sarah Healy finished 13th in 4:32.98 as she finished just ahead of Britain's Katie Snowden, who was 16th in 4:33.44.

“It was an opportunity," said Snowden, "but when I'm on my fourth champs of the year, it's just about a long time to kind of keep going and try and hold form. So I think that was tricky but fun to do. I'd love to do more road stuff going forwards; it's definitely a different feel to the track, but really enjoyable.

Fellow Brits Sarah Calvert was 27th in 4:48.98 and said: "I'm very disappointed. I did not feel myself out there. I've had a bit of a tough past month or so, but I am so happy to just be here, trying to embrace it all and take in all the atmosphere. This is my first GB senior vest, so I'm happy to be here, but I wanted a lot more, and hopefully now I can reset and get stronger for next year."

The men's mile followed an almost identical script. Yared Nuguse went off hard from the gun, pushing the pace with the 58-strong field content to sit a couple of metres off his heels rather than challenge him early. As in the women's race, it was 150m out when the challenge came, Robert Farken drawing level with Nuguse before edging clear in the closing metres as the American hung on grimly for silver. Farken's winning time of 3:51.80 was a world lead, while Nuguse's 3:52.33 a season's best.

Farken said: "I kind of knew what was going to happen: I trained with Yared and we shared the same AirBnB for the last four days. His racing hasn't really gone after plan, so he really has the fire burning in him today and he wanted to take it in hard. So I was very prepared for that today and I knew I needed a spot close to him and see if I could find some shelter from the wind a few places back.

"It's very overwhelming to come away with a world gold medal. And it's very special to do that with Yared - it just shows how good the work that Dathan and Kelsey (their coaches) do with us in Boulder and it gets me fired up for the future.

"This was my final race of the season, 100 per cent. It is my last day in the 20s too, as I have my birthday tomorrow. I don't need anything else for my birthday for sure."

There were notable performances further back, too: Luxembourg's Ruben Querinjean claimed bronze in a national record of 3:52.77, while Australia's Olli Hoare set an area record of 3:53.65 in sixth.

Jake Heyward, who had been the leading Brit at the New Balance 5th Avenue Mile in New York the previous weekend, was the first British finisher again here, placing 11th in a PB of 3:55.76.

Look out for our coverage of the 5km here and the half-marathons on Sunday.

Women's mile 
1 Agathe Guillemot (FRA) 4:22.74; 2 Freweyni Hailu (ETH) 4:24.35; 3 Mirriam Cherop (KEN) 4:25.71; 4 Annemarie Nissen (DEN) 4:26.78; 5 Naomi Korir (KEN) 4:29.15; 6 Adelle Tracey (JAM) 4:29.30; 7 Linden Hall (AUS) 4:29.36; 8 Lucia Stafford (CAN) 4:29.51; 9 Gabriela Debues-Stafford (CAN) 4:30.59; 10 Addison Wiley (USA) 4:31.02

Men's mile
1 Robert Farken (GER) 3:51.80; 2 Yared Nuguse (USA) 3:52.33; 3 Ruben Querinjean (LUX) 3:52.77; 4 Anass Essayi (MAR) 3:53.28; 5 Flavien Szot (FRA) 3:53.44; 6 Oliver Hoare (AUS) 3:53.65; 7 Pietro Arese (ITA) 3:54.37; 8 Vincent Ciattei (USA) 3:54.62; 9 Jude Thomas (AUS) 3:54.92; 10 Tshepo Tshite (RSA) 3:55.66