A historic males’s half marathon race that can be remembered for eons simply occurred this weekend, the sixteenth of February 2025, on the eDreams Mitja Marató Barcelona by Brooks.
Certainly, there must have been some nice fanfare earlier than the lads lastly broke the 57 minutes for the half-marathon distance. There must have arisen debates throughout social media as as to whether it was humanly potential to take action, adopted by a whole bunch of makes an attempt earlier than one man would finally break it in a novel race the place all situations, from good climate to specific pacing by different robust runners, could be organized.
Nevertheless, Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo, who was in nice type this weekend, couldn’t watch for all these and determined to present his greatest.
Even within the race’s early levels, Kiplimo ran parallel to the pacer on the entrance. After the primary two kilometers, he appeared barely forward of the pacer, took the lead, and regularly started to stretch the hole between himself and the remainder of the runners. He crossed the primary 5 kilometers alone at 13:34.
“The pacemaker set the agreed 2:45 tempo, however I discovered myself filled with vitality and determined to inject a brisker rhythm from the third kilometer, however I by no means imagined to carry out below the 57-minute barrier; that’s astonishing,” Kiplimo would say after the race.
The opposite man of all surfaces, Geoffrey Kamworor, who additionally has a number of cross-country and half-marathon titles, couldn’t sustain with the quick tempo and adopted at a distance within the firm of one other Kenyan, Samuel Mailu.
Kiplimo crossed the 10K in 26:46, and Kamworor and Mailu did the identical at 27:15. The hole had already grown significantly. Not solely was Kiplimo in his personal race in opposition to the clock, however he was additionally working on unchartered territory, as nobody had gone sooner than he was going in the mean time within the kilometers that will comply with.
He crossed the 15 km mark in a brand new world report time of 40:07, enhancing his earlier report of 40:42, which he set final 12 months for the gap. He accomplished the 20 km mark in 53:42.
Virtually in disbelief, Kiplimo punched the air a number of instances with each fists as he crossed the end line in a brand new world report of 56:42. He proceeded to obtain hugs from followers on the end line, laid on his again to recuperate momentarily as somebody threw a Ugandan flag over him earlier than elevating as much as some extra hugs and celebrations. He then sat down and waited somewhat extra earlier than Kamworor got here throughout the end line at 58:44, adopted by Mailu at 59:40.
After the spectacular run, all eyes will now be on Kiplimo as he plans to debut on the London Marathon on twenty seventh April.
