Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir broke the women’s half marathon world record in Letna Park, Prague, with a time of one hour, five minutes and 34 seconds. Jepchirchir took 37 seconds off the time set by Ethiopia's Netsanet Gudeta in 2018.
The RunCzech women’s half marathon was an invitation-only event featuring seven of the most celebrated female distance runners in the world.
Jepchirchir covered the first 10K of the 16-and-a-half-lap Letna Park course in 30:32. She broke away from the pack after 20 minutes and although she slowed in the second half of the race, she still finished well under the previous record.
What everyone's reading
Speaking to reporters after the race, Jepchirchir said, ‘I thank God… I’m so excited… I’m satisfied with the result although I thought I could have run 64:50, but I thank God for what He has given me. It was difficult to run alone. If I could have had (good) pacemakers, I could have run 64.’
This is Jepchirchir’s second world record over the half marathon; in 2017, she ran a record of 1:05:06 in a mixed race in Ras Al Khaimah, UAE. Her 2017 record stood for just under two months.
Jepchirchir was running in the new Adidas Adizero Adios Pro - adidas’ fastest ever running shoe. Developed specifically for the word’s elite runners, the event was the first time the shoe has been worn in an official race.
Like this article? Sign up to our newsletter to get more articles like this delivered straight to your inbox.
