Kenya's Jepchirchir sets world mark in women's half marathon
Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo wins the men's race with a championship record time
Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya broke her own world record in the women's-only half marathon Saturday, clocking one hour, five minutes and 16 seconds.
The 27-year-old Jepchirchir improved on her record by 18 seconds on a four-lap course, taking gold at the World Athletics half marathon championships in Gdynia, Poland.
Jepchirchir broke the record for the first time on Sept. 5, when she ran 1:05:34 in Prague.
Six women finished in under 66 minutes in what was a fast course on the streets of Gdynia along the Baltic coast of northern Poland.
WATCH | Jepchirchir breaks own world record:
Melat Yisak Kejeta of Germany finished second in 1:05:18, followed by Yalemzerf Yehualaw of Ethiopia at 1:05:19.
Uganda's 19-year-old Jacob Kiplimo won the men's race with a championship record time of 58 minutes and 49 seconds to upset Kenya's Kibiwott Kandie who took silver. Ethiopia's Amedework Walelegn finished third.
Kandie was the fastest man over the distance this year having run 58:38 in Prague last month.
Kiplimo's compatriot Joshua Cheptegei, who holds both the 5,000m and 10,000m world records, finished in a time of 59:21 on his half marathon debut to earn fourth place.
The event was originally scheduled for March but was postponed to October due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
For more coverage of the half marathon championships, tune into Road to the Olympic Games at 5 p.m. ET.
Earlier this week, Athletics Canada withdrew its team from the competition after the organization's chief medical officer deems travel too risky due to COVID-19 concerns.
With files from CBC Sports
