Kiplagat Breaks World Half Marathon Record in Barcelona

Published by IAAF on February 15, 2015

Competing in the same race in which she broke the world record last year, Florence Kiplagat improved on her own half-marathon mark at the Mitja Marató de Barcelona on Sunday (15).*

Her winning time of 1:05:09 shaved three seconds off her previous world record set 12 months ago. She also set world records* for 15km and 20km en route to her winning performance.

In contrast to the wind and rain battering much of the rest of Spain, Kiplagat's bid to improve her record on the fast and flat course in the Catalan city benefited hugely by almost perfect conditions, with slightly overcast skies and temperatures hovering about 10 degrees Celsius. 

Helped by male pacemakers Marc Roig and her compatriot Ezekiel Kipchirchir, she passed through 5km in 15:38 and 10km in 31:01, eight seconds up on her pace from last year. 

After overing the next five kilometre section in 15:12, she passed 15km in 46:14, 14 seconds inside Tirunesh Dibaba's world record for the distance.

The former world half-marathon and world cross-country champion slowed slightly in the final five kilometres, covering it 20 seconds slower than she did last year, but was still on world record pace.