Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda ran with a vengeance in Barcelona on Sunday — masterfully reclaiming the half marathon world record after the title was taken from him last year.
"What a day!" he wrote on Instagram. "Today everything has been perfect, the course, the weather and of course myself."
Kiplimo, 24, finished in 56:42 at the 2025 Barcelona Half Marathon — shattering the previous half marathon record of 57:30 set by Ethiopia's Yomif Kejelcha last year in Valencia. At the time, Kejelcha had narrowly beaten Kiplimo's 2021 record by just one second.
In Barcelona, Kiplimo significantly outpaced Kejelcha's record by an impressive 48 seconds, marking the "greatest single improvement on the men's world half marathon record," according to World Athletics.
To do so, Kiplimo was averaging about 13.86 miles per hour, or a mile every 4 minutes and 20 seconds.
Kenyan long-distance runner Geoffrey Kamworor took second, finishing nearly two minutes after Kiplimo with a time of 58:44. Samwel Mailu, also from Kenya, secured third, clocking in at 59:40.
Kiplimo is the son of two farmers from Kween, a rural district in eastern Uganda. To get to school, Kiplimo would run over 3 miles at an altitude of 6,200 feet, World Athletics reported.
He entered competitive running through his older brothers, who were also athletes. "To my mind, I said: 'I want to be like them,'" he told World Athletics.
His first official race was in 2015, where he took first place in a selection trial for the World Mountain Running Championships. Afterward, he moved to Italy to train under a new coach.
Two years later, Kiplimo returned to Uganda to compete in the World Cross Country Championships. There, thousands of Ugandans cheered on as he stormed to victory and claimed gold, according to a World Athletics profile. The win made Kiplimo a hometown hero. After that, he decided to stay in Uganda rather than train in Italy.
Kiplimo is a two-time world cross country champion. He earned a bronze medal in the men's 10,000 meters at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. His marathon debut will be this April in London.
On Sunday, Joyciline Jepkosgei of Kenya won the women's race in Barcelona, achieving a personal best of 1:04:13.
Copyright 2025 NPR
