Yomif Kejelcha breaks men’s half-marathon world record by one second

Ethiopian runner Yomif Kejelcha made every second count as he broke the men’s half-marathon record by just one second Sunday.

Kejelcha finished strongly in the Spanish city of Valencia to set a time of 57 minutes, 30 seconds, knocking a single second off the record set in 2021 by Ugandan runner Jacob Kiplimo in Lisbon, Portugal.

Kejelcha is a former world championship silver medalist in the 10,000 meters and holds the indoor world record for the mile, which he set in Boston in 2019. He finished sixth in the 10,000m final at the Paris Olympics earlier this year, according to the BBC.

Like all track and field records, Kejelcha’s will be subject to ratification procedures before World Athletics considers it official.

“This race wasn’t easy,” Kejelcha said, according to World Athletics. “Today I told myself to do it in 57 minutes, and I saw from the clock on the lead car that it was possible, despite the rain. I wanted to break the world record and I’m really happy I did it.”

It was the second time in a row that the record was bettered by such a narrow margin. When Kiplimo set his record, the time was a single second faster than that set by Kibiwott Kandie of Kenya a year earlier in Valencia.

It briefly seemed there could be a world record Sunday in the women’s half-marathon too, but Kenya’s Agnes Ngetich missed out by 11 seconds while chasing Letesenbet Gidey’s mark of 1 hour, 2 minutes, 52 seconds. Gidey also set her record in Valencia, in 2021.

World Athletics said it was the second-fastest time in history. It was the first time that Ngetich, a world championship finalist last year in the 10,000, had raced the half-marathon.

“I’m really happy, and so proud that I achieved the second fastest time ever on my debut,” Ngetich said, according to World Atheltics. “Valencia will always have a special place in my heart because it’s where I set my world record in the 10km.”