Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo became the first person to break the 57-minute barrier for the half-marathon as he set a stunning new world record of 56 minutes 41 seconds in Barcelona on Sunday.
The 24-year-old two-time world cross-country champion, who held the half-marathon record between 2021 and 2024, reclaimed the record by slashing 49sec off the previous record of 57:30, set by Ethiopia's Yomif Kejelcha in Valencia in October.
It is the greatest single improvement on the men's world half-marathon record.
Racing in ideal weather conditions of 13 degrees celsius (55 degrees fahrenheit) with no wind, Kiplimo also set a world best of 39:47 for 15km en route to the half marathon record.
'Very excited'
"I am very excited about what I did today," said Kiplimo, who made his Olympic debut in the 5,000m in Rio when he was just 15.
"I started strong, I wanted to have a great race, but I didn't expect to break the world record.
"As the kilometres passed and I saw that I was going at record pace, I told myself that I had to maintain that pace no matter what it took."
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