Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha regained the world half marathon record after running a time of 56:51 at the Buenos Aires Marathon in Argentina on Sunday, 23 August.
Kejelcha, who in April became the fastest full marathon debutant behind world record-holder Sabastian Sawe in London, was back to his best as he shaved 29 seconds off the previous half marathon record of 57:20, set by Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo in Lisbon in March.The 29-year-old Kejelcha, evidently in a race against time all through the World Athletics Labe road race, hit the final kilometer in 2:32, to lower his lifetime best in the distance by 39 seconds.The Ethiopian previously held the distance world record in 2024, when he won the Valencia Half Marathon in a time of 57:30, a time that was later lowered by Kiplimo twice.
Kiplimo had clocked 56:42 in Barcelona last year, but the time could not be ratified as a world record, because the race conditions were not fully compliant with World Athletics rules. Following Kejelcha in second place was compatriot Tadese Worku in 59:20, while Bereket Nega completed the Ethiopian podium sweep in 1:00.20.
Speaking after the race, Kejelcha told World Athletics: “I’m over the moon. I am super happy and right now I don’t feel any tiredness. The travel from Ethiopia was too long and I was tired the first days here, but later I felt better I had planned to run conservatively over the early stages, but I felt good and decided to give it my all. This time is unbelievable; I can’t describe it with words.”With an initial target of 58 minutes, Kejelcha, running behind two pacemakers, hit the opening 5km in 13:45, before reaching the 10km mark in 27:19 after a 5km split of 13:34, which was still 19 seconds behind Kiplimo’s world record, which is still yet to be ratified.
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Yet, Kejelcha kept pushing through to the 15km mark, clocking an incredible 40:41, which was now 11 seconds quicker than Kiplimo’s split in Lisbon.Boosted by those figures and taking advantage of a following wind section, Kejelcha continued flying over the next few kilometres at 2:40 per kilometre pace, to get to the 20km marker in 54:04, before making a big and historic run to the finish line.
Meanwhile in the women’s race, Ethiopia’s Fotyen Tesfay emerged winner in a time of 1:03.57.The Zurich Marathon champion was followed by two Kenyan-born runners, who have since switched nationalities to Turkey.In second place was Nevin Can (formerly Nelvin Jepkemboi) in 1:05.06, with Selin Can (formerly Catherine Relin Amanang’ole) closing out the podium places in 1:05.11 in third.