Kejelcha tears through Buenos Aires in 56:51 to reclaim half-marathon world record
Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha has ripped the men’s half-marathon world record back into his possession, clocking a blistering 56 minutes 51 seconds in Buenos Aires on Sunday in another landmark moment for African distance running.
World Athletics recorded Kejelcha as the winner of the Media Maratón Ciudad de Buenos Aires and listed the performance as a world record pending the sport’s usual ratification procedure.
The 29-year-old did not simply regain the record. He demolished the 57:20 mark set by Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo in Lisbon in March, taking 29 seconds off that performance.
That puts Kejelcha back at the centre of a record battle that has shifted repeatedly between two of Africa’s most formidable distance runners.
Kejelcha had previously set an official world record of 57:30 in Valencia in October 2024, a mark later ratified by World Athletics. Kiplimo then lowered that official standard to 57:20 in Lisbon earlier this year before Kejelcha struck again in Argentina.
The Buenos Aires race showed how dramatically Kejelcha accelerated once the record came within reach.
World Athletics said he passed 5km in 13:45 and 10km in 27:19 before surging through 15km in 40:41. By 20km, the Ethiopian had reached 54:04, leaving one final kilometre to finish the assault on the clock.
He crossed the line in 56:51.
World Athletics’ official results placed Ethiopian compatriot Tadese Worku second in 59:20, while Bereket Nega finished third in 1:00:20, completing an Ethiopian sweep of the podium.
The scale of Kejelcha’s performance also carries an important technical distinction.
Kiplimo ran 56:42 in Barcelona in 2025, faster than Kejelcha’s Buenos Aires time, but World Athletics said that performance could not be ratified as a world record because the race conditions did not fully comply with its rules.
That leaves Kejelcha’s 56:51 as the new record performance awaiting ratification.
For African athletics, the bigger picture is difficult to miss.
The world-record fight has become an East African power struggle, with Ethiopia’s Kejelcha and Uganda’s Kiplimo repeatedly pushing the half-marathon standard into new territory.
- Leading results
- Women
- 1 Fotyen Tesfay (ETH) 1:03:57
- 2 Nelvin Jepkemboi (KEN) 1:05:06
- 3 Catherine Amanang’ole (KEN) 1:05:11
- 4 Irine Jepchumba Kimais (KEN) 1:06:04
- 5 Sheila Chepkirui (KEN) 1:06:13
- Men
- 1 Yomif Kejelcha (ETH) 56:51
- 2 Tadese Worku (ETH) 59:20
- 3 Bereket Nega (ETH) 1:00:20
- 4 Jonathan Kipkoech Kamosong (KEN) 1:00:21
- 5 Simon Maywa (KEN) 1:00:57
Buenos Aires belonged emphatically to Kejelcha.
The clock stopped at 56:51. The record changed hands again. And, subject to ratification, the Ethiopian is back on top of the half-marathon world.
