Ugandan takes 49 seconds off Yomif Kejelcha\u2019s world record in Barcelona as world 20km race walk record also falls<\/h5>\n
Jacob Kiplimo sliced 49 seconds off the world half-marathon record in Barcelona on Sunday (Feb 16) with an incredible 56:41. In such form, he surely has the potential to smash the world marathon record on his debut over 26.2 miles in London this spring.<\/p>\n
Racing at the eDreams Mitja Marat\u00f3 Barcelona by Brooks, the 24-year-old smashed Yomif Kejelcha\u2019s record of 57:30. En route he also set a world best for 15km of 39:47.<\/p>\n
Geoffrey Kamworor of Kenya was second in 58:44 ahead of Samuel Mailu of Kenya with 59:40 with Marc Scott the leading Brit with 61:00.<\/p>\n
Kiplimo is a former world record-holder for the half-marathon with 57:31 set in Lisbon in 2021. He also won the world half-marathon title in 2020 and world cross-country crowns in 2023 and 2024, whereas on the track his best times are 12:40.96 for 5000m and 26:33.93 for 10,000m.<\/p>\n
Yomif Kejelcha (right) and Jacob Kiplimo (Getty)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Ever since Moses Tanui became the first man to break the one-hour barrier in Milan in 1993, the world half-marathon record has continued to tumble.<\/p>\n
Haile Gebrselassie became the first man to run inside 59 minutes when he clocked 58:55 in Tempe in 2006. Geoffrey Kamworor came within a second of breaking the 58 minutes in Copenhagen in 2019 but the following year Kibiwott Kandie crashed through the barrier as he stormed to 57:32 in Valencia.<\/p>\n
Kiplimo then took a second off that record in 2021 before Kejelcha ran 57:30 in Valencia last October. And now Kiplimo has enjoyed a quantum leap by taking the record well inside 57 minutes.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am very excited about what I did today,\u201d said Kiplimo. \u201cI started strong, I wanted to have a great race, but I didn\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
The women\u2019s race was also fast in Barcelona with Joyciline Jepkosgei of Kenya winning in a course record of 64:13.<\/p>\n
The now former world record-holder Kejelcha, meanwhile, was also in action on Sunday with 26:30 for 10km in Castell\u00f3n to go No.2 on the world all-time rankings.<\/p>\n
It has been quite some week for world records with Jakob Ingebrigtsen setting world mile and 1500m indoor marks in Lievin, Yared Nuguse clocking a short-lived mile record in New York and Grant Fisher running 3000m and 5000m records in New York and Boston.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/athleticsweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/Toshikazu-Yamanishi-Getty-for-IAAF-750x442.jpg\")
<\/p>\nToshikazu Yamanishi (Mark Shearman)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
There was a world record in the men\u2019s 20km race walk, too, with Japan\u2019s Toshikazu Yamanishi clocking 76:10 in Kobe on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Yamanishi, a two-time world champion, improved the previous world record of 76:36 set by fellow Japanese race walker Yusuke Suzuki in Nomi in 2015 by 26 seconds.<\/p>\n
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