Runner smashes half-marathon record, heads straight to the football

Yomif Kejelcha has smashed the half-marathon world record, running a staggering 56 minutes and 51 seconds at the Media Maratón Ciudad de Buenos Aires in Argentina on Sunday.The Ethiopian shaved 29 seconds off the previous mark of 57:20, which had been set by Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo in Lisbon in March.Kejelcha's time and that of the record he just beat are still subject to ratification by World Athletics.The Media Maratón Ciudad de Buenos Aires is a World Athletics Label road race and took place under favourable conditions of 6 degrees Celsius and with a slight breeze.As ever, the super shoe gets plenty of post-race love from Yomif Kejelcha. (Instagram: @maratondebuenosaires)Tadese Worku (59:20) and Bereket Nega (1:00:20) of Ethiopia completed the podium."I'm over the moon," Kejelcha told World Athletics."I'm super happy and right now I don't feel any tiredness. The travel from Ethiopia was too long and I was tired the first days here, but later I felt better and today I was full of beans."I had planned to run conservatively over the early stages, but I felt good and decided to give it my all."This time is unbelievable. I can't describe it with words."I now hope to try the Argentinian meat, which has a very good reputation, and this afternoon I have been invited to watch the River Plate-Vélez football match. I'm very grateful."At the historic Estadio Monumental, Kejelcha showed off his new record on a new River Plate shirt, although would have been disappointed as Vélez Sarsfield came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 in their Argentine Primera División clash. Clearly Los Millonarios don't share Kejelcha's stamina.Yomif Kejelcha showed off his record on a new River Plate kit at at the Estadio Monumental. (Instagram: @maratondebuenosaires)Kejelcha's time allowed him to reclaim the record, which he previously held with a 57:30 in Valencia in October 2024.The time is slower than that recorded by Kiplimo in Barcelona last year, when he ran what he described as "the perfect race" to stop the clock in 56:42.But World Athletics did not ratify that time because race conditions did not comply with their regulations.Kejelcha ran the race at an average pace of 2 minutes and 42 seconds per kilometre — which would give you a 5km parkrun time of 13 minutes and 28 seconds.However, as was the case when he became the second man to run an official race marathon in less than two hours in London last year, he negative split the race, running the second half faster than the first.He set out behind two pacemakers, going through the first 5km at 13:45, while the second 5km was run in 13:34.His subsequent 5km split was a remarkable 13:22, with the Ethiopian holding that pace through the next 5km, running it in 13:23.Last April at the London Marathon, the 29-year-old two-time Olympian ran 1:59:41, finishing second behind Kenya's Sabastian Sawe, who set the world record with a 1:59:30.In the women's race, Ethiopia's Fotyen Tesfay stormed to victory in 1:03:57, comfortably beating her two Kenyan rivals Nelvin Jepkemboi (1:05:06) and Catherine Amanang'ole (1:05:11).