Jacob Kiplimo has become a household name for good reason. The track and field fraternity has witnessed many records being established and broken recently, with athletes like Grant Fisher, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, and Yared Nuguse delivering one spectacular performance after another. Kiplimo has now joined the ranks of track and field greats thanks to his historical achievement. Participating in the half marathon in Barcelona, the Ugandan athlete clocked a whirlwind timing of 56:42 to clinch the top spot in the race. This win is more special than you think.

The scintillating performance also meant that Kiplimo became the first human in track and field history to run a half-marathon under 57 minutes! En route to his impeccable triumph, Kiplimo posed many question marks. Despite the category being that of a half marathon, Kiplimo’s antics made it imperative that a statistical analysis be conducted between his timings and the ones that preceded it. 

Starting with the 5k mark, going by Kiplimo’s split, he completed the 5k in 13:34 which is significantly behind Grant Fisher’s current world record of 12:44.09 that he set at the Valentine Invitational on Feb 14. The 13:34 time also lags behind the previously existing world record of 12:49.60 by Kenenisa Bekele back in February 2004. Next up, in the 10k mark is where things become utterly interesting. The current world record stands at 26:11 set by his countryman, Joshua Cheptegei. Compared to that, Kiplimo looks tantalizingly close with a 10k split of 26:46. Thus, his fans can surely fancy a day when the 24-year-old, in all probability, will be breaking the 15k WR too. 

15k is familiar terrain for the Ugandan runner. In the Netherlands in 2024, Kiplimo clocked a world record time of 40:42 in a standalone 15k race. But it gets even better. In 2021, the 24-year-old had an even better 15k split reading 40:27 en route to his 57:31 half marathon world record. This record was broken by the Ethiopian athlete Yomif Kejelcha, who clocked 57:30 to take the honor. However, that time now stands obliterated. Continuing to make his fans marvel at his track prowess, Kiplimo further chopped off seconds from his world record by clocking a 15k split of 40:07 in Barcelona. 

Surely, after such a performance, it is only normal for an athlete to feel on top of the world. While Kiplimo detailed his mindset going into the race, some more statistical analysis will reveal that the 24-year-old is posing a threat to Grant Fisher too. 

Jacob Kiplimo reflects on historic victory 

When the Ugandan runner started the race, fans expected a show. But very few could have predicted the jaw-dropping spectacle it eventually turned out to be. After winning the race, Kiplimo caught up with Olympics.com and mentioned how elated he felt after the historic feat. The 24-year-old also revealed that he never imagined that he would be chopping off this much time from the world record. He said, “I started very strong in the first two kilometers to get away from my rivals. As the kilometers passed and I saw that I was going at a record pace, I told myself that I had to maintain that pace no matter what it took,”

Meanwhile, Kiplimo’s incredible timing is a warning sign for Grant Fisher. We did the math so you don’t have to! Calculating the difference between his 5k and 15m timing, the number came to be 26:33. This meant that Kiplimo had effectively run 10k in 26:33, which was the personal best of Grant Fisher in the category established in 2022. Throw in this mix the fact that the 27-year-old long-distance runner won bronze medals in the 5k and 10k events and the whole situation gets a lot more interesting. Will the Ugandan runner in the position to dethrone Fisher? We are certainly not ruling that possibility out!