The 2025 Barcelona Half marathon kicked off with a big promise of talking points and it delivered a humongous surprise.

Jacob Kiplimo of Uganda spectacularly shattered men’s half marathon record in a race where two 21km superstars were featured.

Kiplimo reclaimed his previous world record in the distance and became the first man to run a 21km race under 57 minutes.

The former world half marathon champion crossed the finish line of the Barcelona race in 56:41, obliterating the previous mark set by Ethiopian athlete Yomif Kejelcha last October at the Valencia Half Marathon.

He was followed by Kenya’s decorated road racer Geoffrey Kamworor who stuck behind Kiplimo in the race punctuated by superfast tempos.

“I am very excited about my victory. I started strong because I wanted to have a great race, but I didn’t expect to break the world record. As the kilometres passed and I saw that I was going at record pace, I told myself that I had to maintain that pace no matter what it took,” the new record holder said.

Kamworor finished second in 58:44 ahead of Mailu (59:40).

Former London Marathon champion Joyciline Jepkosgei claimed victory in the women’ race 1:04.11.

When his record was falling in Barcelona, Ethiopia’s Kejelcha was in action at the 10K Facsa Castellón where he clocked 27:30.

From yesterday’s record performance from Kiplimo, Kejelcha now moves to second on the half marathon world all-time list.

Kejelcha, who lost his world half marathon record some two minutes after crossing the finish line in Castellón following Jacob Kiplimo’s impressive effort in Barcelona, took a commanding victory as he improved on his PB of 26:37 and set an Ethiopian record, although he had set himself the goal of bettering the world record of 26:24.