Former world record-holder Joyciline Jepkosgei headlines a high-class women's field at the Cardiff Half Marathon on Sunday, with Rome-Ostia winner Gideon Kiprotich the fastest man as the World Athletics Elite Label race stages round four of the SuperHalfs Series.

Joyciline Jepkosgei will headline the 23rd edition of the Cardiff Half Marathon on Sunday (Oct 4), which doubles as the fourth fixture in the 2026 SuperHalfs Series and incorporates the Welsh Championships.

Jepkosgei, who has a PB of 64:13, was the first athlete in history to run under 65 minutes for the half marathon and the first to dip under 30 minutes for 10km, setting the world record for that distance at 29:43 in Prague in 2017. She went on to win the Virgin Money London Marathon in 2021 and the TCS New York Marathon in 2019, and set her marathon best of 2:14:00 with victory at Valencia in 2025 before finishing third at this year's TCS London Marathon in April.

She faces Wede Kefale of Ethiopia (65:20), third at the Copenhagen Half Marathon and with a 10km best of 29:55, and Winnie Kimutai (67:03), who beat Kefale into second at the Antrim Coast Half Marathon last month to set her PB. Emebet Kebede (69:01), and debutants Tigist Tesema of Ethiopia and Scarlet Chebet of Uganda, are next fastest, while Maya Weigel (70:35) makes the trip from the USA.

Natasha Wilson (69:54) defends her Welsh title six weeks after finishing fifth in the marathon at the European Championships in Birmingham. Giovanna Epis of Italy (70:15) is the leading non-British European entrant, a three-times national champion and winner of February's Verona Half Marathon, while Northern Ireland 10,000m champion Emily Haggard-Kearney (70:47), Norway's Maria Wagan (71:59), Tracy Barlow (72:14) and 2024 Manchester Marathon winner Charlie Arnell (73:30) also line up.

Olivia Tsim (73:37), a former Welsh 10km champion, is the next-fastest Welsh entrant on PBs, while Kayley Price (84:43), winner of the recent Kidney Wales CDF 10km, is set to significantly improve her best for the distance.

In the men's race, Gideon Kiprotich (58:49) becomes the first sub-59-minute performer to start the Cardiff Half Marathon. The Kenyan, winner of last year's Rome-Ostia Half Marathon, is joined by course record-holder Yismaw Dillu (59:23), who returns to the Welsh capital after winning the 2025 Great Ethiopian Run and may benefit from kinder conditions than 12 months ago — both he and Kiprotich could threaten his own course record. Vincent Kipkorir (59:30), winner of the Malaga Half Marathon earlier this year and third in Antrim last month, and Simon Maywa (59:44), whose biggest win came at the 2025 Rome Half Marathon, complete the leading quartet.

Boniface Mulwa (60:38), a training partner of former TCS London Marathon winner Alexander Mutiso, also competes, alongside Ugandan duo Dillon Kipyeko (61:09) and Denis Kiplangat (debut), Bahrain's Jonah Rutio (61:10) and Japan's Takato Suzuki (61:45). Latvia's Arturs Medveds, a four-times national champion and national record-holder for the mile, 3000m, 5000m and 10,000m, makes a high-profile debut, while Ireland's Sean Tobin (63:11), the Netherlands' Dominik Hirczy (64:30) and Norway's Erik Lomas (64:52) are the next-fastest non-British Europeans.

Scottish cross country champion Logan Rees makes his half marathon debut and is possibly the highest-profile British athlete in the field. Dan Nash is the fastest Welsh entrant on paper, but debutant Lloyd Sheppard-Brown, winner of the recent Kidney Wales CDF 10km, will look to challenge him for the Welsh title.

The wheelchair race features its fastest entry to date, with 2022 Commonwealth Games marathon champion JohnBoy Smith (43:34) taking on returning 2025 winner Callum Hall (46:15), while Mel Nicholls (53:39), a multiple past winner, is back again in 2026.