Uganda’s Kiplimo Smashes Half Marathon World Record

By: Gyang Dakwo

Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo broke the world half marathon record with a time of 56 minutes and 41 seconds in Barcelona on Sunday, 49 seconds faster than the previous mark set by Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha in October.

He becomes the first person to run a half marathon below 57 minutes.

Twice world cross country champion Kiplimo’s run was the greatest single improvement on the men’s half marathon record, World Athletics said on its website.

“I am very excited about what I did today,” said the former 10,000m Olympic and World Championships bronze medallist.

“I wanted to have a great race, but I didn’t expect to break the world record.

“I started very strong in the first two kilometres to get away from my rivals. As the kilometres passed and I saw that I was going at record pace, I told myself that I had to maintain that pace no matter what it took.”

He also set a world best of 39:47 for 15km during the World Athletics event, which was held in perfect conditions of 13ºC with no wind.

Kiplimo’s compatriot Geoffrey Kamworor finished second (58:44) ahead of Kenya’s Samuel Mailu (59:40).