After breaking the two-hour marathon barrier behind Sabastian Sawe in London in the spring, the Ethiopian runner now runs a 56:51 half-marathon in Argentina.

Yomif Kejelcha reclaimed the world half-marathon record on Sunday (Aug 23), clocking 56:51 to win the Media Maratón Ciudad de Buenos Aires.

The run took 29 seconds off the mark of 57:20 set by Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo in Lisbon in March, and returns the record to Kejelcha, who first set it with 57:30 in Valencia in October 2024.

It continues a remarkable spell for the 28-year-old, who made the step up to the marathon for the first time in April and immediately went under two hours, finishing second to Kenya's Sabastian Sawe at the London Marathon in 1:59:41 – a debut that made him only the second man in history to break the barrier, 11 seconds behind Sawe's winning world record of 1:59:30.

Kejelcha's rise to the marathon and half marathon has come after a decorated track career that began with world youth and world junior 3000m and 5000m titles as a teenager. He set the world indoor mile record of 3:47.01 in Boston in March 2019, taking 1.44 seconds off Hicham El Guerrouj's 22-year-old mark, a record that stood until Yared Nuguse broke it in February 2025.

In Sunday's women's race, Ethiopia's Fotyen Tesfay was an overwhelming winner in 1:03:57.