© Copyright – 2025 – Athletics Illustrated
The city of Valencia hosted incredible half-marathon performances on Sunday.
In the men’s race, Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha dominated from the gun to close in the time of 58:02. Kejelcha didn’t get close to his own world record of 57:30, but he was clearly in control of this race.
Finishing in second place was Rodrique Kwizera from Burundi clocking a finish time of 58:39. Taking third was Kenyan Brian Kibor, who was credited with the same finish time.
Ethiopia's Yomif Kejelcha 🇪🇹 escapes with the Valencia Half Marathon 2025 in a fantastic fashion 👇🏾
— Kenya One Sports 🇰🇪 (@TonnyKe11) October 26, 2025
Top 3 finishers 👇🏾
1️⃣Yomif Kejelcha 🇪🇹 58:02
2️⃣Rodrigue Kwizera 🇧🇮 58:39 (NR)
3️⃣Brian Kibor 🇰🇪 58:39 (PB) pic.twitter.com/3mEv4NUOAo
In the women’s race, Kenya’s Agnes Jebet Ngetich won in the time of 1:03:08. She just missed Letesenbet Gidey’s world record of 1:02:52.
Taking second place was Ethiopian Fotyen Tesday in 1:05:11. Finishing in third was Kenyan Vernonic Loleo in 1:05:46.
One of the performances of the day came from Sweden’s Andreas Almgren, who destroyed the European half-marathon record by finishing in 58:41. He is the first European athlete to run sub-59 minutes.
The 30-year-old improved the previous European best of 59:13 set by Julien Wanders in 2019. Almgren finished fourth overall.
Almgren also broke the European record for the 5000m, going 12:44.27 in June and 10K in 26:25 in Valencia back in January. He holds five national records.
Top-20 results
Men
Yomif Kejelcha – 58:02
Rodrigue Kwizera – 58:39
Brian Kibor – 58:39
Andreas Almgren – 58:41
Adriaan Wildschutt – 59:13
Nicholas Kipkorir – 59:44
Mohamed Ismail – 1:00:03
Gideon Kiprotich – 1:00:03
Filmon Tesfu – 1:00:46
Carlos Mayo – 1:00:47
Said Mechaal – 1:00:48
Nassim Hassaous – 1:00:55
Efrem Gidey – 1:01:02
Alfie Manthorpe – 1:01:26
Shuaib Aljabaly – 1:01:27
Charles Wheeler – 1:01:28
Alex Yee – 1:01:30
Ben Connor – 1:01:32
Abderrazak Charik – 1:01:35
James Whelan – 1:01:37
Women
Agnes Jebet Ngetich – 1:03:08
Veronic Loleo – 1:05:46
Gladys Chepkurui – 1:06:58
Mulat Tekle – 1:07:08
Emma Hurley – 1:08:02
Klara Lukan – 1:08:04
Alessia Zarbo – 1:08:20
Caroline Nyaga – 1:08:40
Carla Gallardo Puebla – 1:09:14
Fadowa Ledhem – 1:09:24
Yumi Yoshikawa – 1:09:28
Katie Izzo – 1:09:37
Meritxell Soler Del Pozo – 1:09:46
Lily Partridge – 1:09:52
Kristine Eikrem Engeset – 1:10:33
Alicia Berzosa Martín – 1:10:37
Liza Sajn – 1:10:39
Ester Navarrete Santafé – 1:10:46
Kiara Nahen – 1:10:47
Nora Szabo – 1:11:05
