“For the want of a nail.”
— George Herbert, an aphorism from 1640.

And for the want of a second, Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha squeezed every second out of the Valencia Half Marathon on Sunday. In so doing, he managed to break the half-marathon world record by that one precious second.

Kejelcha finished strong to set the time of 57:30, knocking a single second off the record set in 2021 by Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo from his performance in Lisbon.

Kejelcha won by 47 seconds over Kenya’s Daniel Mateiko. Isaia Kipkoech Lasoi took third. Kejelcha’s compatriot, who always seems to finish near the front, Selemon Barega, was sixth.

Kejelcha is a former world championship 10,000m silver medallist and holds the indoor world record for the mile, which he set in Boston in 2019. This time last year, Kejelcha clocked a 57:41 in Valencia. His 10,000m best of 26:31.01 and bests at other distances pointed to a potential world record given the right course and tactics.

This was the fourth world record set in Valencia in seven years. Joyciline Jepkosgei took the women’s record in 2017. Fellow Kenyan Kibiwott Kandie set the men’s in 2020 at 57:31 and Ethiopian Letesenbet Gidey dropped the aforementioned women’s record in 2021. Kenyan Abraham Kiptum also ran a world-record time in 2018 but his mark was annulled due to a doping violation.

Eight men ran sub-60.

The women’s race

Briefly, it seemed as though Kenya’s Agnes Ngetich could drop the women’s world record too. However, Ngetich ended up short by 11 seconds. It is Ethiopian Letesenbet Gidey’s mark of 1:01:52 that she was after from 2021.

The pace was fast from the gun, with Ejgayehu Taye and Agnes Ngetich passing 5kms in a world record pace of 14:39.

By the 10km mark, Ngetich had held a small lead over Taye, going through in 29:18 to Taye’s 29:20. Both were running well under Letesenbet Gidey’s world record pace of 1:02:52.

At the 15km marker, Ngetich clocked a 44:15, adding to her lead by 25 seconds and continued on pace to set the new world record.

The Kenyan was 17 seconds ahead of Ethiopia’s Fotyen Tesfay with fellow Kenyan, Lilian Kasait, who finished in third.

Gidey’s record is an outlier performance. Ngetich’s run being the second-fastest all-time puts her in rarified air to be sure.

The women’s-only world record is held by Kenyan Peres Jepchirchir at 65:16 from the 2020 Gdynia World Half Marathon Championships.

Eight women finished sub-1:07, while three clocked times under 1:04.

Results

Pos.NameTime
1KEJELCHA, YOMIF (ETH)0:57:30 World Record
2MATEIKO, DANIEL (KEN)0:58:17
3KIPKOECH LASOI, ISAIA (KEN)0:58:21
4DIDA, GEMECHU (ETH)0:58:39
5LANGAT, VICENT (KEN)0:58:41
6BALEW, BIRHANU (BHR)0:59:41
7NDIKUMWENAYO, THIERRY (ESP)0:59:42
8Daguinos, Etienne (FRA)0:59:46
9Augusto, Bastien (FRA)1:00:18
10KITIYO, DENIS (KEN)1:00:47
Pos.NameTime
1NGETICH, AGNES (KEN)1:03:04
2TESFAY, FOTYEN (ETH)1:03:21
3KASAIT, LLIAN (KEN)1:03:32
4TAYE, EJGAYEHU (ETH)1:04:14
5GEBRESELAMA, TSIGIE (ETH)1:05:18
6CHELANGAT, SHEILA (KEN)1:06:06
7CHELANGAT, JESCA (KEN)1:06:13
8CHEPNGENO, VIOLA (KEN)1:06:55
9KLOSTERHALFEN, KONSTANCE (DEU)1:07:07
10Dieterich, Eva (DEU)1:08:26

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