(Reuters) – Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir bettered the women’s-only half marathon world record when she took gold in a closely-fought race at the World Athletics half marathon championships in Gdynia, Poland on Saturday.
Jepchirchir, 27, finished in a time of one hour, five minutes and 16 seconds to improve her own mark set in Prague last month, claiming the title for the second time having won it in Cardiff in 2016.
Germany’s Melat Yisak Kejeta crossed the line two seconds behind to take silver while Ethiopia’s Yalemzerf Yehualaw was third a further second adrift.
The race was originally scheduled for March but was postponed to October due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru, editing by Ed Osmond)
