By Victor Kanayo
Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha, Sunday, broke the world half marathon record at the Medio Maratón de Valencia Trinidad Alfonso Zurich.
At the World Athletics Gold Label road race, Kejelcha clocked 57:30secs.
According to World Athletics, in his sixth appearance over the distance, the 27-year-old world indoor mile record holder set off behind the pacemakers before taking command of the race just before the third kilometre.
From then on, he started running at 2:43/km pace in pursuit of the world record.
The two-time world indoor champion went through 5km in 13:38, 10km in 27:12 and 15km in 40:56.
It was at that point when he made a break from Kenyans – Daniel Mateiko and Isaia Kipkoech Lasoi to secure the win, taking one second off the world record set by Jacob Kiplimo in Lisbon three years ago.
The world record looked to be under threat for most of the women’s race with Agnes Ngetich passing through 10km in 29:18.
But the Kenyan’s pace dropped slightly in the second half and she eventually crossed the line in 1:03:03 – the second-fastest performance in history – on what was her debut at the distance.
