Featuring NCAA champions, 2028 Olympic Marathon hopefuls and an exciting trio of 13.1-mile rookies, some of the most intriguing distance runners in the country will take center stage at the 2026 USATF Half Marathon Championships, held for the second-consecutive year as part of Publix Atlanta Marathon Weekend.
In addition to a first-place prize of $20,000, part of a championships-only prize purse exceeding $110,000, the field of professional athletes will be competing for a spot on Team USA at the 2026 World Athletics Road Running Championships later this year in Copenhagen. The top three men and top three women will automatically qualify.
Jessica McClain and Erika Kemp - both of whom competed on Team USA's marathon squad at the 2025 World Athletics Championships - head the roster. McClain, who finished eighth in that race, was the top American woman in last year's Boston Marathon and finished fourth in both the marathon and 10,000 meters in the 2024 Olympic Trials, just one spot short in each of making the team. Kemp, a two-time USATF Champion (15K, 20K), also won the 2023 Philadelphia Distance Run Half Marathon and is a two- time winner of the Boston 10K for Women.
Returning to Atlanta is Emma Grace Hurley, who set her personal best of 1:07:35, the fastest in the women's field, when she finished second in this race last year. She is also a two-time runner-up in USATF title races, at 10 miles and 8K. Challenging them will be Molly Born, who earned the title of 2025 USATF Marathon Champion in her debut at the distance; Carrie Ellwood, the 2025 USATF 25 km Champion; Lindsay Flanagan, ninth in the 2023 World Championships Marathon; Megan Sailor, runner-up in that 25 km race; and Ednah Kurgat, the 2017 NCAA Cross Country Champion who has twice finished as top American in the World Cross Country Championships (2023, 2026). She will be running only her second race at this distance, after winning the Denver Colfax Half Marathon last spring at altitude.
In addition, all eyes will be on the debuts of Annie Rodenfels and Grace Hartman. Rodenfels, 29, is a three-time winner of the Abbott Dash to the Finish Line 5K in New York City, with two of those victories earning her the national 5K title, while the 22-year-old Hartman, who ran for Team USA in the recent World Cross Country Championships, is an eight-time All-American and member of two NCAA Cross Country Champion teams at NC State, where she is still a student-athlete.
On the men's side, Isai Rodriguez, 27, leads the way with a personal best of 59:57 - the fastest in the field - set at the Aramco Houston Half Marathon earlier this year in his first attempt at the distance. Rodriguez, the 2023 Pan American Games gold medalist at 10,000 meters, finished third in the 2025 USATF 20 km Championships.
Among the athletes he will face is 24-year-old Charles Hicks, a three-time Under-23 European Champion (cross country, 5,000 meters) as a dual U.S.-Great Britain citizen who will be making his half marathon debut. The 2022 NCAA Cross Country Champion, Hicks also won the 2025 Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10 Mile.
Also contending will be Wesley Kiptoo, a two-time runner-up in the highly competitive Aramco Houston Half Marathon; Ahmed Muhumed, the USATF 8 km and 5 km Champion in 2024. Both competed for Team USA in January's World Cross Country Championships in Tallahassee. They will be joined by Robert Miranda, fourth in the 2024 California International Marathon; recent University of Wisconsin graduate Bob Liking, a four-time Big Ten Cross Country Champion; and Dayton Brown, runner-up at both 5,000 and 10,000 meters at the 2025 NCAA Div. II Track & Field Championships. Liking and Brown will be racing the 13.1-mile distance for the first time.
Publix Atlanta Marathon Weekend, hosted by Atlanta Track Club, kicks off on Saturday, Feb. 28, with a 5K and Kids Marathon, followed by the Marathon - celebrating its 20th Running - and Half Marathon at 7:30 a.m. on Sunday, March 1. All will start and finish at The Home Depot Backyard. More information can be found here.
The USATF Half Marathon Championships will be livestreamed on USATF.TV, as well as Atlanta Track Club's YouTube channel here beginning at 7 a.m. on Sunday. A complete list of competitors can be found here.