Sheila Chepkirui and Rodrigue Kwizera stormed up the world half marathon all-time lists with respective wins in 1:03:51 and 58:03 at the Medio Marathon Valencia Trinidad Alfonso Zurich, a World Athletics Gold Label road race, on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chepkirui\u2019s world-leading performance saw her become the equal fifth-fastest women\u2019s half marathon runner in history, while Kwizera\u2019s Spanish record moved him to eighth on the men\u2019s world all-time list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kenya\u2019s Chepkirui broke away with her Kenyan compatriots Diana Wanza and Daisilah Jerono and the trio reached the 15-kilometre mark in 45:31, 24 seconds ahead of their rivals. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jerono was dropped before Chepkirui and Wanza reached 20km in 1:00:30, seven seconds ahead of their compatriot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chepkirui kicked but Wanza chased hard and they were separated by a single second at the finish line, Chepkirui winning in 1:03:51 and Wanza securing the runner-up spot in 1:03:52, both PBs that move them to fifth and sixth on the world all-time list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a race of record depth, Jerono was third in a PB of 1:04:11 as the top six all finished inside 65 minutes, the first time that has ever been achieved. Ethiopia\u2019s Mizan Alem was fourth in 1:04:54 and Senayet Getachew was fifth in 1:04:57, while Kenya\u2019s Caroline Gitonga was sixth in 1:04:59.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In her first race since becoming a mother earlier this year, Ethiopia\u2019s former world 10km record-holder Yalemzerf Yehualaw finished 16th in 1:07:21, while Laura Luengo set a Spanish record of 1:08:28.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kwizera controlled the men\u2019s race and he led a breakaway group of seven through the 15-kilometre checkpoint in 41:32. The race was down to Kwizera, his training partner Thierry Ndikumwenayo and Victor Kipruto by 20km, reached in 55:13.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Then Kwizera kicked and despite looking over his shoulder, he couldn\u2019t be caught, clinching victory in 58:03. Spain\u2019s Ndikumwenayo was second in 58:09 and Kenya\u2019s Kipruto third in 58:12. Tadese Worku (58:33) and Owen Kapkama (58:42) also finished inside 59 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kwizera\u2019s 58:03 is faster than the European record although the mark by the 27-year-old, who gained Spanish citizenship earlier this year, will not be recognised as a European record as his transfer from Burundi to Spain has not yet been formalised.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ethiopia’s Zeineba Yimer and\u00a0Jirata Dinki won at the Mainova Frankfurt Marathon, respectively clocking 2:19:45 and\u00a02:05:26 at the\u00a0World Athletics Elite Label road race on Sunday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Germany\u2019s Blanka D\u00f6rfel impressed on her marathon debut, finishing runner-up in 2:20:46 to move to eighth on the European all-time list despite wet and windy conditions for large parts of the race. Ethiopia\u2019s 20-year-old Beriha Gebreslasie took third with 2:22:46.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Germany\u2019s European champion Amanal Petros was second in the men’s race with 2:05:46. Benard Biwott of Kenya, the winner from 2024, finished third in 2:06:23.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sheila Chepkirui and Rodrigue Kwizera stormed up the world half marathon all-time lists with respective wins in 1:03:51<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":17096,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[50,318,137],"class_list":["post-17094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-athletics","tag-half-marathon","tag-marathon"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t