World Half Marathon Championships 2020 News: Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir outsprinted her opponents to reclaim the World Half Marathon title in a new Women’s Only World Record time of 1:05:16 in Gdynia, Poland on Saturday afternoon. Peres Jepchirchir is the World Half Marathon winner in 2020.
During Friday’s pre-race conference, Jepchirchir had warned that the world record of 1:05:34 she set in September in Valencia was in danger of falling due to the quality of the field.
And with a spirited sprint in the final 500m of World Half Marathon Championships 2020 Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir who won the title in 2016 proved her prediction right, slashing 18 seconds off her previous mark.
Germany’s Melat Yisak Kejeta took silver silver in a women-only European record of 1:05:18 after beating Ethiopia’s Yalemzerf Yehualaw with a sprint, the latter taking bronze in 1:05:19.
“It’s unbelievable,” said Jepchirchir. “My goal was to win this race. I did not expect that I would beat the world record, but I realised that it could happen when we passed 20km. It was a little bit windy, but the course was good for me.”
Back in third, Yehualaw led Ethiopia to gold in the team event to back up the title they won at the last edition two years ago, with Yimer’s 1:05:39 in fourth and Yeshaneh’s 1:05:41 in fifth giving them the quickest cumulative time with 3:16:39, smashing the championship record. Kenya took team silver with 3:18:10 while Germany took bronze with 3:28:42.
World Half Marathon winner Peres Jepchirchir
Peres Jepchirchir shoes
Meanwhile, Kenya’s former world record holder Joyciline Jepkosgei finished sixth in a time of 1:05:58. She dropped out of the leading pack after taking a tumble in the final five kilometres tripping with Ethiopian Ababel Yeshaneh who finished a place above her.
