Yomif Kejelcha tore up the streets of the Argentine capital on Sunday, clocking 56:51 to reclaim the world half marathon record at the Media Maratón Ciudad de Buenos Aires, according to ONE and World Athletics.
The 29-year-old Ethiopian shaved 29 seconds off the previous mark of 57:20, which Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo had run in Lisbon in March — a time that is itself still pending official ratification by World Athletics.
The win puts the record back in Kejelcha's hands for the first time since he was overtaken last year. He had previously held the mark at 57:30, set in Valencia in October 2024, before Kiplimo went quicker.
The picture is complicated further by Kiplimo's 56:42 clocking in Barcelona last year, which was never ratified because the race conditions did not meet World Athletics' course-certification standards — leaving Sunday's run in Buenos Aires as the fastest half marathon time with a realistic path to official recognition.
Kejelcha's own performance is now subject to the standard ratification process, but if confirmed it will formally return the world record to the Ethiopian, closing a chaotic chapter in which the mark has changed hands, and been thrown into doubt, several times in under two years.
Ethiopia made it a clean sweep on the day. In the women's race at the same event, Fotyen Tesfay won going away in 1:03:57, giving the Ethiopian team a double victory in Buenos Aires.
Tesfay, who has been building toward a world-record bid of her own in Valencia later this year, used the South American race as a serious tune-up rather than a maximal effort — and still won comfortably.
For distance-running fans, the men's world record picture now sets up a fascinating winter: Kejelcha reclaiming the mark, Kiplimo's Lisbon run still awaiting ratification, and both men expected to target the distance again before the year is out.
