Uganda’s long-distance runner Jacob Kiplimo has set a new world record in the men’s half marathon after clocking 57 minutes and 20 seconds at the EDP Lisbon Half Marathon in Lisbon, Portugal on Sunday, 8 March 2026.
The 25-year-old Ugandan shaved 10 seconds off the previous world record of 57:30, which had been set by Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha at the Valencia Half Marathon in 2024.
Kiplimo had previously held the world record of 57:31, which he set at the same Lisbon race in 2021 before Kejelcha surpassed it three years later.
Competing in the World Athletics Elite Label road race, Kiplimo ran most of the race at a blistering pace. He covered the first 5 kilometres in 13:28 and reached 10km in 27:00, running alongside Kenya’s Nicholas Kipkorir and Gilbert Kiprotich before the pair gradually dropped off.
Kiplimo and Kipkorir passed 15km in 40:52, but the Ugandan accelerated in the later stages and ran the next five-kilometre segment in 13:31 to open a decisive gap.
He crossed the finish line in 57:20, with Kipkorir finishing second in 58:08 and Kiprotich third in 58:59.
“I’m so happy to break the world record,” Kiplimo said after the race. “After the first 10km, I thought the world record was possible. I tried to keep pushing the pace in the final two kilometres.”
The result is subject to the usual ratification procedures by World Athletics.
Kiplimo had earlier recorded the fastest ever half-marathon time of 56:42 in Barcelona in February 2025, but the performance was not ratified as a world record due to race regulation breaches involving the lead vehicle.
The Ugandan distance star is also preparing for the London Marathon, scheduled for April 26, where he is expected to compete against some of the world’s top marathon runners.
In the women’s race in Lisbon, Ethiopia’s Tsige Gebreselama retained her title after winning in 1:04:48.
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