As we all know by now, DW2 is an infamously long and unforgivingly random game. I think a separate category for segmented runs would probably make it much more appealing. This is already what 100% runs of BOTW are doing, in addition to allowing the "TA" method of speedrunning, where you can pause the game, turn off the recording, and take short breaks after playing for a while. Of course, there should be some sort of regulation, such as a minimum amount of time for each segment (except for the last one of course), or a maximum amount of segments that you must finish a run in, or something that prevents you from playing it safe and perfecting small parts of the game together.

I agree with a potential addition of a segmented category, especially considering that I'm in the middle of a run myself which will be segmented and the fact that our current runs are all single segment (and those are marathons that should be given their rightful place).

I kinda disagree with limiting segments too much, though, mostly on the basis that things happen beyond our control, real life commitments, of course and the possibility of breeding bad behaviours - i.e restarting from the last segment if the run ends unexpectedly instead of restarting the entire run (which is probably also impossible to prove otherwise).

I think having a segmented category could incentivise new players as PR has rightly pointed out, but perfecting smaller parts will only reinforce that belief as it could have a positive impact on overall run time.

Another way of doing this could be introducing level leaderboards, but it's moot the most popular game in the world.

I did try to limit the amount of segments or force them to be a certain length though. I was clearly anticipating the abuse of stopping segments after every single Domain trip. There would still be limitations, you just wouldn't need to do a whole run longer than a waking day in one go. And of course it would not take priority over the important full runs.