56:51, a European record and a women-only world record: the half marathon’s four fastest weeks

For most of its history the half marathon has been the marathon’s warm-up act. Between late August and late September it produced a new world record, a European record and a women-only world record.

56:51 in Buenos Aires

On 23 August, Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha ran 56 minutes 51 seconds at the Buenos Aires half marathon, a World Athletics Label road race. That took 29 seconds off the world record of 57:20 set by Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo in Lisbon in March, according to AIMS, the association of distance races.

The two men have traded the record before. Kejelcha set it at 57:30 in Valencia in October 2024; Kiplimo took it back in Lisbon. Kiplimo’s 57:20 was formally ratified by World Athletics on 3 September. Kejelcha’s 56:51 is subject to the usual ratification procedure. A faster run by Kiplimo, 56:42 in Barcelona in 2025, was never ratified because conditions on the course did not fully comply with the rules.

Ethiopia’s Fotyen Tesfay won the women’s race in Buenos Aires in 1:03:57.

Almgren beats the Kenyans in Copenhagen

At the World Athletics Road Running Championships in Copenhagen on 20 September, Sweden’s Andreas Almgren won the men’s world half marathon title in 58:06, a European record. He beat Kenya’s Nicholas Kipkorir by five seconds; Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei, the Olympic 10,000 m champion, was third in a personal best of 58:26.

World Athletics’ report describes a race that broke up after 10 km, reached in 27:53. Four men (Kipkorir, Almgren, Cheptegei and Worku) went clear and passed 15 km in 41:47. Cheptegei fell away before the final 600 metres, and Almgren surged past Kipkorir with the finish in sight.

“This gold medal means so much to me,” Almgren said. “I did not only have one or two gears left, I had three or four.”

The time improved his own European record by 35 seconds and moved him to ninth on the world all-time list. Almgren makes his marathon debut in New York in November.

Ngetich’s women-only world record

In the women’s race, Kenya’s Agnes Ngetich won her first world half marathon title in 1:05:15, a women-only world record by a second, beating the 1:05:16 Peres Jepchirchir ran at the 2020 championships in Gdynia. Women-only records are kept separately because they are set without male pacemakers. Ngetich finished 50 seconds clear of her compatriot Veronica Loleo, Watch Athletics reported.