Race winner Jacob Kiplimo breaks the world file on the eDreams Mitja Marato de Barcelona, on Sunday in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
Lorena Sopena/Europa Press through Getty Pictures
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Lorena Sopena/Europa Press through Getty Pictures
Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda ran with a vengeance in Barcelona on Sunday — masterfully reclaiming the half marathon world file after the title was taken from him final yr.
“What a day!” he wrote on Instagram. “As we speak the whole lot has been excellent, the course, the climate and naturally myself.”
Kiplimo, 24, completed in 56:42 on the 2025 Barcelona Half Marathon — shattering the earlier half marathon file of 57:30 set by Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha final yr in Valencia. On the time, Kejelcha had narrowly overwhelmed Kiplimo’s 2021 file by only one second.
In Barcelona, Kiplimo considerably outpaced Kejelcha’s file by a powerful 48 seconds, marking the “biggest single enchancment on the boys’s world half marathon file,” in line with World Athletics.
To take action, Kiplimo was averaging about 13.86 miles per hour, or a mile each 4 minutes and 20 seconds.
Kenyan long-distance runner Geoffrey Kamworor took second, ending almost two minutes after Kiplimo with a time of 58:44. Samwel Mailu, additionally from Kenya, secured third, clocking in at 59:40.
Kiplimo is the son of two farmers from Kween, a rural district in jap Uganda. To get to high school, Kiplimo would run over 3 miles at an altitude of 6,200 toes, World Athletics reported.
He entered aggressive operating by way of his older brothers, who have been additionally athletes. “To my thoughts, I stated: ‘I wish to be like them,'” he informed World Athletics.
His first official race was in 2015, the place he took first place in a range trial for the World Mountain Working Championships. Afterward, he moved to Italy to coach beneath a brand new coach.
Two years later, Kiplimo returned to Uganda to compete within the World Cross Nation Championships. There, 1000’s of Ugandans cheered on as he stormed to victory and claimed gold, in line with a World Athletics profile. The win made Kiplimo a hometown hero. After that, he determined to remain in Uganda reasonably than practice in Italy.
Kiplimo is a two-time world cross nation champion. He earned a bronze medal within the males’s 10,000 meters on the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. His marathon debut might be this April in London.
On Sunday, Joyciline Jepkosgei of Kenya gained the ladies’s race in Barcelona, attaining a private better of 1:04:13.
