Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo sent a strong message to his London Marathon rivals when he smashed the world half marathon record in Barcelona on Sunday.
Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo is having the best possible preparations for his full marathon debut in London after smashing the world half marathon record in Barcelona on Sunday.
Kiplimo ran an astonishing 56:41 at eDreams Mitja Marato Barcelona by Brooks, becoming the first man in history to clock a sub-57 in the half marathon, breaking Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha’s world record of 57:30 in the process.
The two-time world 10,000m champion broke the world record by an incredible 49 seconds, the greatest single improvement on the men’s half marathon world record.
Racing in ideal weather conditions of 13ºC with no wind, Kiplimo also set a world best of 39:47 for 15km on his way to the historic victory in the Spanish city, with Kenyan duo Geoffrey Kamworor and Samuel Mailu completing the podium after clocking 58:44 and 59:40 in second and third positions respectively.
“I am very excited about what I did today. I started strong, I wanted to have a great race, but I didn’t expect to break the world record,” Kiplimo said after the race as per Olympics.
“I started very strong in the first two kilometres to get away from my rivals. As the kilometres passed and I saw that I was going at record pace, I told myself that I had to maintain that pace no matter what it took.”
The win is a warning to Kiplimo’s rivals at the London Marathon set to take place on April 27.
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The Ugandan will make his full marathon debut in the English capital and is up against a strong line-up that includes four-time winner Eliud Kipchoge, defending champion Alexander Mutiso and Sebastian Sawe, all from Kenya, as well as Olympics champion Tamirat Tola.
The win in Barcelona will give Kiplimo confidence that he can conquer the London race even if he will be new to the 42km distance.
