Peres Jepchirchir smashes women-only half marathon record

Kenya's Peres Jepchirchir on Saturday broke the women-only race world record in the half marathon in Prague. The 26-year-old clocked 1:05:34 at the Prague 21.1KM, shattering the previous record of 1:06:11 set by Netsanet Gudeta of Ethiopia at the World Half Marathon Championships in 2018.

"I was thinking to run maybe 1:04:50, but I'm so happy," said Jepchirchir, who raced to the world half marathon title in 2016, after her win according to the World Athletics website.

"The last five kilometres I was really tired," she said, but added that she did plan to run much of the race alone. "My plan was to run good, because I was well prepared."

This was Jepchirchir's second world record over the distance. The Kenyan had clocked 1:05:06 in a mixed gender race in Ras Al Khaimah in 2017, a record which stood for just under two months.