Sunday October 27th, 2019
Valencia, Spain
Distance: Half Marathon
The Trinidad Alfonso Valencia Half Marathon has become one of the top running events in the world in its 25th year. For the second year running, Valencia is the fastest half marathon in the world. The race, organized by SD Correcaminos Athletics Club, celebrated its silver anniversary in style with record participation, record crowd numbers, Silver label IAAF accreditation and an atmosphere that you will not find anywhere else in the world.
The Trinidad Alfonso Foundation is supporting the event in which many of the world’s best athletes and thousands of members of the public will run on a fast, unique course with the finishing line in the City of Arts and Sciences.
The official name of the event will, therefore, be the IAAF/Trinidad Alfonso World Half Marathon Championships Valencia 2018 (or its corresponding name in Spanish, IAAF/Trinidad Alfonso Campeonato del Mundo de Media Maratón Valencia 2018). The Trinidad Alfonso Foundation, a non-profit foundation chaired by Juan Roig, has the aim of promoting values such as a strong work ethic through sports projects that take place in the Valencia region.
| Division | Time | Name | Age | Home |
| Male | 58:18 | KIPTUM, ABRAHAM | 29 | KENYA |
| 2nd Male | 58:33 | MEKONNEN, JEMAL YIMER | 22 | ETHIOPIA |
| 3rd Male | 58:44 | EMBAYE, ABADI HADIS | 21 | ETHIOPIA |
| 4th Male | 59:19 | BERTA, AMDAMLAK BELIHU | 25 | ETHIOPIA |
| Female | 1:06:11 | BATI, GELETE BURKA | 32 | ETHIOPIA |
| 2nd Female | 1:06:13 | MOHAMMED, ALIA MOHAMMED SAEED | 27 | EMIRATOS ARABES UNIDOS |
| 3rd Female | 1:06:18 | CHELIMO, EDITH | 32 | KENYA |
| 4th Female | 1:06:31 | KORIKWIANG, PAULINE CHEMMING | 28 | KENYA |
| Division | Time | Name | Age | Home |
| M 40-49 | 1:18:10 | BUSSU, GESUINO | 42 | Italy |
| M 50-59 | 1:11:55 | ÁLVAREZ AROCAS, JUAN LUIS | 56 | Spain |
| M 60-69 | 1:29:40 | HUBERT, WEBER | 62 | Germany |
| M 70+ | 1:38:25 | RONDÁN FORNER, JESÚS | 70 | Spain |
| F 40-49 | 1:32:06 | SCHWALB, UTE | 45 | Germany |
| F 50-59 | 1:48:09 | VILA GARCIA, MAGDALENA | 50 | Spain |
| F 60-69 | 1:54:03 | GONZALVO PEREZ, MARIA JOSE | 68 | Spain |
| F 70+ | 2:27:44 | LINDQUIST, LISBETH | 71 | Sweden |
(2018) Zersenay Tadese's eight-year-old half marathon world record of 58:23 has been broken. 29-year-old Abraham Kiptum from Kenya, who ran 59:09 in Copenhagen last month, clocked 58:18 in Valencia this morning, October 28. The Medio Maratón de Valencia Trinidad Alfonso is a IAAF Gold Label road race. On a perfect day (a slight wind and 52F, 11C), the race opened according to the plan with the main pack passing the opening five kilometers in 13:56. By 10K, the pace had dropped slightly as the 15-man lead pack went through that checkpoint in 28:02. But shortly afterwards the long-legged Kiptum broke away from the rest of the pack with incredible ease and began to cover each kilometer in a stunning 2:44.
The 15K split of 41:40 was just seven seconds slower than Tadese’s equivalent split from his world record run – suggested that Kiptum was on course to break his PB of 59:09. Ethiopia’s Jemal Yimer was still just two seconds behind Kiptum. Boosted by the crowd and fully aware that he was close to world record, Kiptum kept on pushing hard to open a margin over the Ethiopians in second and third. The Kenyan reached 20K in 55:18 to take three seconds off Tadese’s previous world best of 55:21 set on his way to his world half marathon best of 58:23 in Lisbon eight years ago. Having covered the second 10K in 27:16, Kiptum strode home in 58:18 to bring the world record back to Kenya. “I can’t believe it, I’m over the moon,” said 29-year-old Kiptum. “Obviously I knew I was in good shape because I set a PB last month in Copenhagen but I was eager to run in Valencia because it’s one of the flattest circuits I’ve ever run and I was confident of improving on my best. “In the race I slowed down between the ninth and 10th so I decided to step up the pace and go for everything.”
