Delhi Half Marathon 2022: World record holder Jacob Kiplimo adds glamour to elite athletics event
Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo broke the half marathon world record with a 57:31 minutes run at Lisbon last year. He is eyeing the meet record at Delhi on October 16.
Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo, the world record holder in men’s half marathon, will be in India to compete at the Delhi Half Marathon 2022 on October 16.
A World Athletics Elite Label event, the Delhi Half Marathon has been running since 2005 and the upcoming one will be its 17th edition.
Jacob Kiplimo is the reigning world half marathon champion, having won the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships title in 2020. Last year, he ran the phenomenal 57:31 race in Lisbon, breaking the previous half marathon world record held by Kenya’s Kibiwott Kandie by a second.
The 21-year-old Kiplimo is also an accomplished track runner, having clinched bronze medals in the 10,000m at Tokyo Olympics in 2020 and the World Athletics Championships 2022 in Oregon earlier this year.
Kiplimo also won both the men’s 5,000m and 10,000m gold medals at the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham last month.
Jacob Kiplimo has also been in sensational form on the road in 2022. Back in February, he won the RAK Half Marathon in UAE’s Ras Al Khaimah (UAE) with a world-leading time of 57:56 minutes and followed it up with the top podium finish at the Great North Run Half Marathon in England last Sunday.
Ethiopia’s Amdework Walelegn, who won the elite race in the last edition of the Delhi Half Marathon back in 2020, currently holds the meet and course record of 58:53.
Kiplimo, however, believes he can run the fastest half marathon ever seen on Indian soil during his first maiden visit to the country.
“I have been told that the Delhi Half Marathon course is a quick one and the record suggests that you can run fast times there. It is always dangerous to make predictions about what you are going to do, but what I can say is that with a month to go to the race I am in good shape, and I will focus on preparing specifically for the race over the next few weeks,” Jacob Kiplimop said.
“I have not raced too much this year, so I am still fresh and I want to show the people of Delhi and India what I am capable of,” he added.