Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo broke the world half marathon record with a time of 56 minutes and 41 seconds in Barcelona on Sunday, 49 seconds faster than the previous mark set by Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha in October, Reuters reports

Kiplimo’s time is the best single improvement on the men’s world half-marathon record. Twice world cross country champion Kiplimo’s run was the greatest single improvement on the men’s half marathon record, World Athletics said on its website.

“I am very excited about what I did today,” said the former 10,000m Olympic and World Championships bronze medallist.

“I wanted to have a great race, but I didn’t 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.”

Japan’s Toshikazu Yamanishi broke the men’s 20 kilometre race walk world record earlier on Sunday, clocking one hour, 16 minutes and 10 seconds in Kobe to beat the mark set by his compatriot Yusuke Suzuki in 2015.

Kiplimo also set a world best of 39:47 for 15km during the World Athletics event, which was held in perfect conditions of 13ºC with no wind.

Kiplimo’s compatriot Geoffrey Kamworor finished second (58:44) ahead of Kenya’s Samuel Mailu (59:40).

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, according to Athletics Weekly.

It says, “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.”

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.

“I am very excited about what I did today,” said Kiplimo. “I started strong, I wanted to have a great race, but I didn’t 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.”

The women’s race was also fast in Barcelona with Joyciline Jepkosgei of Kenya winning in a course record of 64:13.

The now former world record-holder Kejelcha, meanwhile, was also in action on Sunday with 26:30 for 10km in Castellón to go No.2 on the world all-time rankings.

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.

There was a world record in the men’s 20km race walk, too, with Japan’s Toshikazu Yamanishi clocking 76:10 in Kobe on Sunday.

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.

• A Tell report