Ethiopia's Yomif Kejelcha reclaimed the men's half marathon world record on Sunday, running 56 minutes and 51 seconds at the Media Maratón Ciudad de Buenos Aires — a time that shaved 29 seconds off the previous mark and put the record back in his own hands for the first time since 2024.
Kejelcha ran negative splits, picking up pace through the second half of the course with pacemakers Dillon Kipyeko of Uganda and Brian Kipmwetich Kipkore of Kenya helping set the tempo, according to World Athletics. Conditions were close to ideal: 6 degrees Celsius at the start with only a slight breeze. Ethiopia's Tadese Worku finished a distant second in 59:20.
I'm over the moon. I'm super happy and right now I don't feel any tiredness.
Yomif Kejelcha
The record had bounced between two men over the past year. Kejelcha originally set it at 57:30 in Valencia in October 2024, before Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo broke it in Lisbon this past March with a time of 57:20 — the mark Kejelcha erased on Sunday. Kiplimo has actually run faster, clocking 56:42 in Barcelona last year, but that run was never ratified as a world record because the course did not meet World Athletics' compliance rules, a reminder of how strict record-keeping is in road racing.
Kejelcha's result, first reported by Olympics.com, is still subject to standard ratification, though performances of this caliber, run under record-eligible conditions with verified pacing and course measurements, are rarely overturned.
The run adds to a breakout year for the 28-year-old, who made his marathon debut in London this past April, running 1:59:40 — inside the mythical two-hour barrier for an official race, though not fast enough to challenge the marathon world record. Distance-running fans have increasingly speculated about whether Kejelcha might eventually target the marathon full time; for now, he has simply reasserted himself as the fastest half marathoner who has ever lived, on a record book that keeps getting rewritten every few months.
