Ugandan long distance runner Jacob Kiplimo has won gold at the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships Gdynia 2020 held today, Saturday, 17th October in the Northern Polish Baltic Coast City, Poland.
Kiplimo, 19 and an athlete from Uganda Wild Life Authority (UWA) clocked 58: 48 (58 minutes and 48 seconds) to come atop a huge field of elite athletes.
Kiplimo’s timing is a national record at the meet. It’s also the Championship record.
However, Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei who was tipped to smash another record at the event finished fourth.
This is yet another time Kiplimo beats Cheptegei to gold having triumphed in 2019 World Cross Country Championships, where he shared the lead for much of the way before finishing second behind his compatriot.
Before that, however, he had comfortably beaten Cheptegei at the Ugandan Cross Country Championships and the Cross Internacional de Italica in Seville earlier that year.
Before today’s event, Kiplimo slightly had advantage in the race having previously contested a half marathon; then, he ran 1:01:53 at altitude in Kampala at the end of last year, winning by more than a minute.
