World Record In Half Marathon: 57:32!

Amazing results recorded at the Valencia Marathon and Half Marathon, including the first ever sub-58 minutes in half marathon.

While Valencia hosted elite-only races due to the pandemic this year, both marathoners and half marathoners produced very fast performances. The races were timed by MyLaps ProChip system, which is provided by Depar Timing in Turkey. Kibiwott Kandie of Kenya sliced 29 seconds off the half marathon world record of 58:01 set by Geoffrey Kamworor last year. Kandie, who finished in 57:32, was followed by three others dipping under the previous record. Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo, the reigning World Half Marathon champion, came second in 57:37, Kenyans Rhonex Kipruto third in 57:49 and Alexander Mutiso fourth in 57:59.

Women’s half marathon witnessed a new course record. Ethiopia’s Genzebe Dibaba, who has twelve World Championships medals under her belt and the silver medal from 1500m in Rio Olympics, was victorious by the fastest ever debut time, 1:05:18. Sheila Chepkirui of Kenya was second in 1:05:39, Ethiopian Senbere Teferi third in 1:05:51.

In the men’s marathon where thirty athletes finished under 2:10 with six of them breaking 2:05 barrier, Kenyans shared the first two places. Evans Chebet arrived first in 2:03:00, the sixth fastest time in history. Lawrence Cherono took second in 2:03:04. The podium was completed by Ethiopian Birhanu Legese who finished in 2:03:16.

Peres Jepchirchir, who came to Valencia with a personal best of 2:23:50, clocked a stunning 2:17:16 to win the women’s marathon. The Kenyan, gold medallist at the World Half Marathon Championships less than two months ago, moved up to fifth place on the all-time world marathon list. Her compatriot Joyciline Jepchirchir followed in 2:18:40. Helaria Johannes of Namibia finished third in 2:19:52.

The high-tech MyLaps ProChip system, which was utilised to time the races at the Valencia Marathon and Half Marathon, was most recently used by Depar Timing at the Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships held in Sakarya last October.