Zurich, Oct 27 (IANS) Ethiopia's Yomif Kejelcha broke the world half marathon record at the 2024 Valencia Half Marathon on Sunday, clocking 57:30 in the World Athletics Gold Label road race.
In his sixth appearance at this distance, the 27-year-old world indoor mile record holder started out running behind the pacemaker before taking command of the race just before the third kilometre. From then on, he started running at a pace of 2:43/km in pursuit of the world record.
The two-time world indoor champion completed 5 km in 13:38, 10 km in 27:12 and 15 km in 40:56. This was the time when he overtook Kenya's Daniel Matiko and Isaiah Kipkoech Lasoi to win and improve by one second the world record set by Jacob Kiplimo in Lisbon three years ago.
The world record looked to be under threat for much of the women's race, as Agnes Negetich covered the 10 km distance in 29:18. But the Kenyan's pace dropped a bit in the second half and he eventually crossed the line in 1:03:03 – the second fastest performance in history – his first performance at this distance.
The Kenyan was 17 seconds ahead of Ethiopia's Fotian Tesfaye and another Kenyan, Lillian Cassatt, was third.
–IANS
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