This archive report was first published on 2 July 2021.
On October 17, 2020, Peres Jepchirchir made history by setting a new women-only world half-marathon record of 1:05:16 at the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships in Gdynia, Poland. The record has now been ratified.
The top six women in the race finished under 66 minutes, a first in history, and the top three beat Jepchirchir's previous record of 1:05:34 set in Prague just over a month earlier, on September 5, 2020.
The conditions on the day were cool and breezy, with a roughly 5.5km loop course featuring a seafront stretch that athletes covered four times.
Former mixed race world record-holder Joyciline Jepkosgei led a 13-strong group through 5km in 15:20, and a lead group of seven passed 10km in 30:47.
However, it was Jepchirchir who broke away, joined by Ethiopia's Yalemzerf Yehualaw and Germany's Melat Yisak Kejeta, and they went through 20km in 62:04, 13 seconds clear, eventually finishing 20 seconds ahead of their rivals.
"It's unbelievable," said Jepchirchir afterwards. "My goal was to win this race. I did not expect that I would beat the world record, but I realised that it could happen when we passed 20km. It was a little bit windy, but the course was good for me."
