In a video being circulated widely on social media, three African runners appear to deliberately allow China’s He Jie to win the Beijing half marathon. The organisers said Monday they have launched an investigation.

The video clip of the race on Sunday shows Kenyan runners Robert Keter and Willy Mnangat, Dejene Hailu of Ethiopia and China’s He approaching the finish.

With the goal in sight, the three African runners can be seen pointing to the finish line and seemingly waving He out in front, while appearing to slow down.

He, the 2023 Asian Games marathon gold medallist, won by one second.

The four had largely remained together throughout the course of the race of just over 13 miles (21 kilometres).

4月14日，北京半程马拉松比赛现场疑似出现假赛，引发大众质疑。视频中，比赛最后几百米，中国选手何杰原本落后，但3位外籍运动员中有人回头摆手疑似示意何杰反超，又示意队友减速。最终，何杰在默契中完成反超，以一秒优势夺冠。
这一戏剧性画面引发大众质疑。… pic.twitter.com/dRWxbBcIhB

— 李老师不是你老师 (@whyyoutouzhele) April 14, 2024

“We are investigating and will announce the results to the public once they are available,” a person from the Beijing Sports Bureau, who wished to remain anonymous, told news agency AFP.

The event’s organiser — the Beijing Sports Competition Management and International Exchange Center — also said an investigation had been launched.

The incident received significant attention on Weibo, with some users criticising what they saw as an “embarrassing” result.

“This will certainly be the most embarrassing championship in He Jie’s career,” one wrote.

“With such a major organiser and such a well-known event, this really pushes sportsmanship to the ground in shame,” the post added.

Long-distance running has boomed in recent years in China, but there have been numerous instances of cheating and poor organisation.

In 2018, at a half-marathon in Shenzhen, 258 runners were found to have cheated, including many who took shortcuts. Traffic cameras caught them using trees as shields to join a different part of the race.

In 2019 a woman was filmed riding a green-coloured rental bike in the Xuzhou International Marathon in eastern China. She was ordered by race officials to dismount the bike, only to get back on again afterwards.