A historic males’s half marathon race that might be remembered for eons simply occurred this weekend, the sixteenth of February 2025, on the eDreams Mitja Marató Barcelona by Brooks.
Certainly, there should have been some nice fanfare earlier than the boys lastly broke the 57 minutes for the half-marathon distance. There should have arisen debates throughout social media as as to if it was humanly attainable to take action, adopted by a whole bunch of makes an attempt earlier than one man would finally break it in a singular race the place all circumstances, from excellent climate to express pacing by different sturdy runners, can be organized.
Nevertheless, Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo, who was in nice kind this weekend, couldn’t look ahead to all these and determined to offer his finest.
Even within the race’s early phases, 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 step by step 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 stuffed 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 towards the clock, however he was additionally operating on unchartered territory, as nobody had gone quicker than he was going in the mean time within the kilometers that may comply with.
He crossed the 15 km mark in a brand new world document time of 40:07, bettering his earlier document of 40:42, which he set final 12 months for the space. 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 document 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.
