Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo set a stunning world half marathon record of 56:42* at the eDreams Mitja Marató Barcelona by Brooks, a World Athletics Gold Label road race, on Sunday (16).
With that impressive performance, the 24-year-old two-time world cross country champion improved on Yomif Kejelcha’s previous world record of 57:30 by 48 seconds – the greatest single improvement on the men’s world half marathon record.
Racing in ideal weather conditions of 13ºC with no wind, Kiplimo became the first athlete to break 57 minutes for the distance and also set a world best of 39:47 for 15km en route to his world half marathon record.
In the women’s race, Kenya’s former world record-holder Joyciline Jepkosgei grabbed a convincing win in a lifetime best of 1:04:13 to retain her title in a course record and move to seventh on the world all-time list.
Despite not having announced a world record assault ahead of the race, the stellar form Kiplimo showed on 31 December in Madrid where he effortlessly clocked 26:32 for 10km suggested something great might happen in Barcelona.
During the technical meeting held on Saturday afternoon a 2:45/km rhythm was agreed to be set by Kenya’s Edwin Kimosong for the opening kilometres, yet that 58-minute final pace proved too easy for Kiplimo as the Ugandan, eager to regain the world record he set in Lisbon back in 2021, took full command of the race some eight minutes into the event.
From then on Kiplimo offered an incredible display of strength, going faster and faster to reach 5km in 13:34, already on world record pace. By then, Kenyans Geoffrey Kamworor and Samwel Mailu travelled together some 19 seconds in arrears, while Italy’s European champion Yemaneberhan Crippa was a lonesome fourth in 14:02.
Kiplimo began to cover the next kilometres in the 2:40-2:42 range to go through the 10km checkpoint in 26:46, clearly inside the world record pace of 27:15, while Kamworor and Mailu clocked a still quick 27:39 to Crippa’s 28:02.
The lonesome leader kept on picking up his cadence over the second half to such an extent that he reached the 15km point in 39:47, improving his own world best.
By then it became clear that, barring disaster, he would become the world record-holder again as his splits suggested that even a sub-57:00 final clocking was more than feasible.
The Ugandan ace didn’t falter over the closing kilometres and was timed at 53:42 for the 20km mark to complete another 26:46 10km section.
He finished in a blistering 56:42 – a ‘beamonesque’ performance as the previous world record stood at 57:30. Way back, Kamworor clinched the runner-up spot in 58:44 and Mailu completed the podium in 59:40.
By World Athletics
