Back in 2021, Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey shattered the half-marathon world record at the Valencia Half Marathon, clocking a jaw-dropping 1:02:52, remarkably, in her debut half marathon, after breaking multiple records in distance running. Her feat was deemed untouchable by the track world… until this year. At the Valencia Marathon, Kenyan long-distance star Agnes Ngetich came tantalizingly close to toppling Gidey’s mark, while several other long-standing records crumbled under the event’s lightning-fast pace, including the European Half-Marathon record.

So, what went down? In the women’s race, Ngetich once again came close to Gidey’s four-year-old world record of 62:52, crossing the line in a scorching 63:08, just 16 seconds shy of the record and four seconds slower than her own PB

See Full Page