Swedish athlete becomes first European to break 59 minutes for the distance as victories go to Yomif Kejelcha and Agnes Ngetich.
It was not to be for Yomif Kejelcha at the Valencia Half Marathon on Sunday (Oct 26) as the Ethiopian’s winning time of 58:02 fell short of Jacob Kiplimo’s world record of 56:42.
Hot on his heels in fourth place, though, Andreas Almgren of Sweden smashed Julien Wanders’ European record of 59:13 with 58:41.
Andreas Almgren (Daniel Moses)
In the women’s race, Agnes Ngetich gave Letesenbet Gidey’s world record of 62:52 a scare but the Kenyan clocked 63:08 – 16 seconds outside Gidey’s mark and four seconds slower than her own PB when winning in Valencia 12 months ago.
After flying through 10km in 29:28, Ngetich could not quite hold her speed in the closing stages as Gidey’s world record slipped away. Still, it was a 2025 world lead for Ngetich.
Agnes Ngetich (Daniel Moses)
For Almgren, this was his third European record this year following a 10km record in Valencia of 26:53 followed by the 5000m record of 12:44.27 on home soil in Stockholm in the summer.
He went on to win bronze in the 10,000m at the World Championships in Tokyo, close behind runner-up Kejelcha and winner Jimmy Gressier of France. After that race he set his sights on this European record in Valencia.
READ MORE: Andreas Almgren interview
Sunday’s race – El Medio Maratón Valencia Trinidad Alfonso Zurich to give it its full name – is renowned for producing fast times. Once again it did not disappoint either.
Agnes Ngetich and Yomif Kejelcha (Daniel Moses)
Behind Kejelcha, Rodrigue Kwizera of Burundi ran 58:39 while Brian Kibor of Kenya ran 58:39 in third just ahead of Almgren.
Alfie Manthorpe (Daniel Moses)
Alfie Manthorpe was the leading Brit with 61:26 to go 20th on the UK all-time rankings. Close behind, Charlie Wheeler ran 61:28, Olympic triathlon champion Alex Yee clocked 61:30 and then Ben Connor came home in 61:32 and Zak Mahamed 61:44.
Charlie Wheeler (Daniel Moses)
Lily Partridge was the leading British woman with 69:52 only a fortnight after running 69:34 in Manchester.
