Peres Jepchirchir breaks women-only world half-marathon record twice in six weeks

On Sept. 5, Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir smashed Netsanet Gudeta’s women-only half-marathon world record of 1:06:11 with a 1:05:34 clocking at the Prague Half-Marathon. Six weeks later, she lowered it again with her 1:05:16 victory at the World Half-Marathon Championships in Gdynia, Poland.

Jepchirchir also brief ly held the women’s mixed-gender half-marathon record in 2017, when she ran a 1:05:06 at the Ras Al Khaimah ( rak) Half Marathon in the United Arab Emirates. (Road records distinguish between mixed-gender and women-only, because, unlike on the track where they are paced only by women, in some road races male pacers are allowed, which is believed to give the women an advantage.) She won the world half-marathon championships in Cardiff, Wales, in 2016.— CR