Jacob Kiplimo sets new half marathon record, finishes in under 57 minutes

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.”

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.

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.

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.