Yomif Kejelcha regains half marathon world record with 56:51s run in Buenos Aires

Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha broke the half marathon world record with a 56:51s run over 13.1 miles in Buenos Aires, Argentina, taking back a record that he held between October 2024 and March this year.

He won by more than two minutes in a 1-2-3 for Ethiopia, as Tadese Worku came second and also broke the hour mark (59:18s), while Bereket Nega finished third in 1:00:17s.

This is the second time in five months that this record has been broken, with Kejelcha going 29 seconds better than Jacob Kiplimo’s 57:20s run in Lisbon, Portugal, this March. It’s the first year since 2007 to see multiple revisions of the best men’s half marathon time, as Kejelcha and Kiplimo continue to better one another — collectively they hold seven of the fastest 11 performances over this distance.

Speed endurance and progressive tactics made the difference for the versatile Ethiopian athlete, who quickened his pace from 13:44s for the opening 5km to drop his fastest split between 10 and 15km (13:21s) and bring the record into touching distance.

Kiplimo, 25, first took the half marathon world record in 2021, and his 57:31s run stood for nearly three years until Kejelcha ran one second faster in October 2024. Last March, Kiplimo, from Uganda, became the first sub-57 man when he clocked 56:42 in Barcelona, though World Athletics never ratified that because he was judged to be running too close (15-20 metres) to the lead car, which gave him drafting benefits. “The race conditions were not fully compliant with World Athletics rules,” the governing body explained.

It’s been quite a year for Kejelcha, 29, as he leaves behind a successful track career — including two world indoor titles over 3,000m and two 10,000m world silver medals — to pursue longer distances on the roads. On his marathon debut this April, he finished just 11 seconds behind Sabastian Sawe at the London marathon, as the pair ran themselves into the history books as the first athletes to break two hours in record-legal conditions.

Kejelcha is scheduled to run the Valencia marathon at the start of December, one of the fastest courses outside of the marathon majors.