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Sheila Chepkirui and Rodrigue Kwizera stormed up the world half marathon all-time lists with respective wins in 1:03:51 and 58:03 at the Medio Marathon Valencia Trinidad Alfonso Zurich, a World Athletics Gold Label road race, on Sunday (25).
Chepkirui&rsquo;s world-leading performance saw her become the equal fifth-fastest women&rsquo;s half marathon runner in history, while Kwizera&rsquo;s Spanish record moved him to eighth on the men&rsquo;s world all-time list.
Kenya&rsquo;s Chepkirui broke away with her Kenyan compatriots Diana Wanza and Daisilah Jerono and the trio reached the 15-kilometre mark in 45:31, 24 seconds ahead of their rivals.&nbsp;
Jerono was dropped before Chepkirui and Wanza reached 20km in 1:00:30, seven seconds ahead of their compatriot.
Chepkirui kicked but Wanza chased hard and they were separated by a single second at the finish line, Chepkirui winning in 1:03:51 and Wanza securing the runner-up spot in 1:03:52, both PBs that move them to fifth and sixth on the world all-time list.
In a race of record depth, Jerono was third in a PB of 1:04:11 as the top six all finished inside 65 minutes, the first time that has ever been achieved. Ethiopia&rsquo;s Mizan Alem was fourth in 1:04:54 and Senayet Getachew was fifth in 1:04:57, while Kenya&rsquo;s Caroline Gitonga was sixth in 1:04:59.
In her first race since becoming a mother earlier this year,&nbsp;Ethiopia&rsquo;s former world 10km record-holder Yalemzerf Yehualaw finished 16th in 1:07:21, while Laura Luengo set a Spanish record of 1:08:28.
Kwizera controlled the men&rsquo;s race and he led a breakaway group of seven through the 15-kilometre checkpoint in 41:32. The race was down to Kwizera, his training partner Thierry Ndikumwenayo and Victor Kipruto by 20km, reached in 55:13.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6addf80f3a6a130850c1079e.jpg" alt="Rodrigue Kwizera celebrates his Valencia Half Marathon win" />
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Rodrigue Kwizera celebrates his Valencia Half Marathon win (&copy; Sergio Mateo Mar&iacute;a for Sportmedia)
Then Kwizera kicked and despite looking over his shoulder, he couldn&rsquo;t be caught, clinching victory in 58:03. Spain&rsquo;s Ndikumwenayo was second in 58:09 and Kenya&rsquo;s Kipruto third in 58:12. Tadese Worku (58:33) and Owen Kapkama (58:42) also finished inside 59 minutes.
Kwizera&rsquo;s 58:03 is faster than the European record although the mark by the 27-year-old, who gained Spanish citizenship earlier this year, will not be recognised as a European record as his transfer from Burundi to Spain has not yet been formalised. 
<h2>Yimer and Dinki win in Frankfurt</h2>
Ethiopia's Zeineba Yimer and&nbsp;Jirata Dinki won at the Mainova Frankfurt Marathon, respectively clocking 2:19:45 and&nbsp;2:05:26 at the&nbsp;World Athletics Elite Label road race on Sunday (25).
Germany&rsquo;s Blanka D&ouml;rfel impressed on her marathon debut, finishing runner-up in 2:20:46 to move to eighth on the European all-time list despite wet and windy conditions for large parts of the race. Ethiopia&rsquo;s 20-year-old Beriha Gebreslasie took third with 2:22:46.
Germany&rsquo;s European champion Amanal Petros was second in the men's race with 2:05:46. Benard Biwott of Kenya, the winner from 2024, finished third in 2:06:23.
<a href="https://worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-label-road-races/calendar-results/7246125/result" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Results</a>
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Sheila Chepkirui and Rodrigue Kwizera stormed up the world half marathon all-time lists with respective wins in 1:03:51 and 58:03 at the Medio Marathon Valencia Trinidad Alfonso Zurich

Chepkirui and Kwizera clinch fast half marathon wins in Valencia

Australia&rsquo;s Rebecca Henderson and Japan&rsquo;s Masatora Kawano set respective world marathon race walk records of 3:14:52* and 2:55:14* at the All Japan Race Walking meeting, a World Athletics Race Walking Tour Bronze event, in Takahata on Sunday (25).
The weather was dismal but the racing was red hot as former 35km world record-holder Kawano put the hammer down to move away from a group of five at 36km and become the inaugural men&rsquo;s world record-holder for the marathon distance. His time also beat Hayato Katsuki's 2:55:28 set on the same course in 2025.
Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Henderson improved on the 3:15:11 women&rsquo;s world record set by Sofia Fiorini at the European Championships in Birmingham in August.
The results were all the more remarkable in races held in the pouring rain and on a course with a slight rise and fall of around a metre each lap. Not crucial on its own but telling when you have to go up and down 42 times.
Six athletes held sway in the men&rsquo;s race before two-time world medallist Kawano went into overdrive at the 36-kilometre mark. The only one able to give chase was Kazuya Iwai, and even then he was 15 metres back with the other four unable to respond.
Iwai&rsquo;s brave effort was eventually rewarded with a fine 2:55:55 for second place, while Kazuki Takahashi was third &ndash; the same position he claimed at the Asian Games in March, only then it was in 3:02:45. This time he clocked 2:56:45.&nbsp;
Katsuki finished fourth in 2:56:59 and Satoshi Maruo fifth in 2:57:07, all of them way under the standard required for World Athletics Championships Beijing 27 eligibility.
The half marathon and marathon became official race walk distances from 1 January 2026, with 2:56:30 set as the performance standard required for the inaugural men&rsquo;s world marathon race walk record.&nbsp;Kawano achieved it on his marathon debut, back in the same town where he set his former world 35km race walk record in 2024.
In contrast, Henderson &ndash; also making her marathon debut &ndash; race walked solo from start to finish with a steady but powerful rhythm that saw her pass many men in the huge field once the early charge settled down.
<div><img style="max-width: 900px; width: 100%; display: block;" src="https://assets.aws.worldathletics.org/6ade033b6c158518d59e6b0f.jpg" alt="Rebecca Henderson at the All Japan Race Walking meeting" />
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Rebecca Henderson at the All Japan Race Walking meeting (&copy; JAAF / Ikumi Kodama)
At 20.195km, the 25-year-old recorded 1:33:39; a lead that had grown to more than six minutes over Ayane Yanai. That gap increased again to 8:04 by 25km and a huge 14 minutes by the end.
Even so, the 3:29:10 by Yanai in second place was still a Japanese record. Veteran Masumi Fuchise was third in 3:38:42.
A dozen athletes shot away at the start of the men&rsquo;s half marathon but by 10.0975km Tomohiro Noda led in 39:31, with Kento Yoshikawa, Yuta Koga and Taisei Yoshizako breathing down his neck.
That breath became a whisper when Noda accelerated all the way to 15.0975km. He made that point in 58:31, a lead of 18 seconds over Yoshikawa who in turn had a 12-second gap to Yushi Nakajima.
However, that turn of speed was to cost the leader dearly as Noda was dramatically herded into the penalty zone in sight of the finish line.
It left the door open for Yoshizako to record the best win of his career, one that went hand in hand with a personal best of 1:22:04. He needed help to stand after crossing the finish line but recovered just in time to see Yoshikawa follow him home seconds later in 1:22:11.
Elizabeth McMillen put her head down to tackle first the rain and then the opposition in the women&rsquo;s half marathon.
The Australian Commonwealth Games silver medallist was 1:30 up on Japanese champion Nanako Fuji by 10km and went on to win in 1:31:31 &ndash; the fifth-fastest time for this new event.
Her personal best had been 1:38:29 set at the World Athletics Race Walking Team Championships earlier in the year. This new milestone &ndash; just short of seven minutes &ndash; equates to around a 1.5km improvement in just seven months.
McMillen went through 20km in 1:26:50 on the way. She might have grimaced as she splashed her way through, but she saved a deserved smile for the finish.
Fuji prevailed in 1:35:15 to take the domestic title.
Paul Warburton for World Athletics
*Subject to the usual ratification procedure
<a href="https://worldathletics.org/competition/calendar-results/results/7244534?eventId=" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Results</a>
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Australia’s Rebecca Henderson and Japan’s Masatora Kawano set respective world marathon race walk records of 3:14:52* and 2:55:14* at the All Japan Race Walking meeting

Henderson and Kawano set world marathon race walk records in Takahata

Perseus Karlstr&ouml;m set a Swedish and course record to secure a scintillating half marathon race walk win at the Lusatian Race Walking meeting, a World Athletics Race Walking Tour Silver event, in Zittau, Germany on Saturday (24).
He clocked 1:23:24 to win by more than four minutes, while Peru&rsquo;s Mary Luz Andia also achieved a big personal best to win the women&rsquo;s race. The 25-year-old stopped the clock in a course record of 1:34:29 and like Karlstr&ouml;m, she was untroubled from the gun.&nbsp;
There were also wins for France&rsquo;s Aur&eacute;lien Quinion and Poland&rsquo;s Izabela Krzyżanowska in the marathon races.
But it was multiple global medallist Karlstr&ouml;m who stole the show. His previous best of 1:24:58 from Dudince in March was eclipsed in style as the 36-year-old saved the best until last as far as 2026 goes by improving his national record.
Karlstr&ouml;m's victory was never in doubt, and when it came to lapping on the one-kilometre loop course, he did just that. He lapped the entire field of 50 race walkers.
The Swede went straight to the front with Mexico&rsquo;s Cesar Fernandez and Germany&rsquo;s Leo K&ouml;pp right behind, with four in close order behind them.
By the second lap covered in 3:55, it was Karlstr&ouml;m on his own with Fernandez desperately trying to close a small but significant gap.
But the leader sporting blue arm warmers and a blue vest was blowing the field away.
Karlstr&ouml;m was 150 metres ahead after the five-kilometre mark as he relentlessly churned out sub-four-minute kilometres.
Josafat Pena was chasing his compatriot Fernandez, but K&ouml;pp was part of a four-strong group that caught Pena at the eight-kilometre mark.
Fernandez fell victim to the penalty zone, which allowed K&ouml;pp, Ireland&rsquo;s Oisin Lane and Czechia&rsquo;s Adam Zaj&iacute;ček to overtake and battle for the leading places.
Three then became two as Lane faltered.
At 16km, K&ouml;pp became sole contender for second place as Zaj&iacute;ček also suffered. But the German athlete was still more than three minutes behind the leader. In fact, Karlstr&ouml;m could see K&ouml;pp, and with a circuit to go, the eventual runner-up became the last to get lapped.
However, the German was comfortable in second place and took that in 1:27:45 with Latvia&rsquo;s Raivo Saulgriezis reaping the rewards of a sensible race to claim third place in 1:28:00.
Zaj&iacute;ček recovered to claim fourth, one second ahead of Mateusz Nowak from Poland.
Andia took on the women&rsquo;s half marathon sheltered by a group of male athletes in the early stages.
Wearing dark glasses, she was out front and reached the six-kilometre mark in 26:43, moving further away.
She eventually won by more than two minutes, her 1:34:29 a course record by 3:41 and a 5:53 improvement on her previous best set in Lima in March.
Her dominance was underlined when Hana Čern&aacute; of Slovakia recorded 1:36:59 for second, another big personal best by 1:51.
France&rsquo;s 2021 world U20 silver medallist Ma&euml;le Bir&eacute;-Heslouis notched a fine third place in 1:39:16 on her half marathon debut. Canada&rsquo;s Rosalie Drapeau was fourth in 1:40:59, a PB by 2:33.
There was a short delay for the start of the marathons around the rectangular 1km park course. But at 10&deg;C and sunny, it was nigh on perfect for racing.
It took no time for Quinion and Martin Madeline-Degy to make the men&rsquo;s marathon their own. The French pair were well clear by 4km, reached in 17:56 ahead of Mexico&rsquo;s Julio Cesar Salazar Enriquez who was more than a minute behind at 14km.&nbsp;
Quinion and Madeline-Degy pushed on to record a swift 1:29:58 at the half marathon stage before Madeline-Degy edged ahead for a lap.
Any hope of an upset was short lived when European bronze medallist Quinion asserted his authority to draw level, move ahead, and take a 21-second lead at 29km.&nbsp;
By the end, that had stretched to 54 seconds: 3:01:35 to 3:02:29.
All the same, both comfortably broke the previous course record of 3:03:55 set by Italy&rsquo;s Andrea Agrusti 12 months ago.
Italy&rsquo;s Teodorico Caporaso was isolated for almost the entire race but he still came through for third place.
In the women&rsquo;s marathon, three athletes race walked together for the first half. There was nothing to separate Germany&rsquo;s Ada Junghann&szlig; from Krzyżanowska and her Polish compatriot Kinga Walerianczyk.
However, Krzyżanowska took the lead with 8km to go and never looked back to cross the finish line in 3:49:54.
This was a marathon effort that produced huge gaps in the closing stages as athletes tired dramatically. Second was Walerianczyk in 3:56:36 and third wasn&rsquo;t Junghann&szlig; but her German compatriot Julia Schmidt in 4:04:01.
Paul Warburton for World Athletics
<a href="https://worldathletics.org/competitions/world-athletics-race-walking-tour/calendar-results/7234919/result" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Results</a>

Perseus Karlström set a Swedish and course record to secure a scintillating half marathon race walk win at the Lusatian Race Walking meeting, a World Athletics Race Walking Tour Silver event, in Zittau

Meeting Name	Venue		Date
1st UTokyo & wttk-DEN-EN Middle Distance Record Challenge	University	JPN	25 Oct 2026
Venice Half Marathon	Venezia	ITA	25 Oct 2026
23rd Tajima Naoto Memorial	Ishin	JPN	25 Oct 2026
TREK Marathon de Lille	Lille	FRA	25 Oct 2026
Les Foulées Monterelaises	Montereau	FRA	25 Oct 2026

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