Ethiopian Kejelcha breaks world half-marathon record

Ethiopian runner Yomif Kejelcha has made every second count as he broke the men's half-marathon record by the narrowest of margins.

Kejelcha finished strongly in the Spanish city of Valencia on Sunday to set a time of 57 minutes 30 seconds, knocking a single second off the record set in Lisbon in 2021 by Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo.

Kejelcha is a former world championship silver medalist in the 10,000m and holds the indoor world record for the mile, which he set in Boston in 2019.

It was the second time in a row the record was bettered by such a narrow margin. When Kiplimo set his record, the time was also just one second faster than that set by Kibiwott Kandie, of Kenya, a year earlier in Valencia.

It briefly seemed there could be a world record in the women's half-marathon too, but Kenya's Agnes Ngetich missed out by 11 seconds while chasing Letesenbet Gidey's mark of one hour 2 minutes 52 seconds. Gidey also set her record in Valencia in 2021.

It was the second-fastest time in history on Ngetich's half-marathon debut.