Agnes Ngetich eyes world half marathon record on return to venue of closest miss
Reading Time: 2min | Tue. 21.10.25. | 17:06
Her last road race was the Adizero Road to Records 10km event in April this year
Kenyan long-distance runner Agnes Ngetich will look to make more history as she lines up for this year’s Valencia Half Marathon Trinidad Alfonso Zurich scheduled for Sunday, 26 October.
Follow our WhatsApp channel for more news
Ngetich, 25, headlines a studded elite field that will battle it out in one of the fastest races in the athletics scene.
Already a world record holder for the 10km run by a woman in a mixed-gender race, Ngetich will target another go at becoming the women’s world half-marathon record holder when she returns to the place where she had Letensebet Gidey’s time of 1:02:52 in her sights, but only just.
On her Valencia Half debut on 27 October last year, Ngetich, who won two medals at the 2023 World Cross Country Championships, ran a sizzling 1:03.03, falling just 12 seconds short of the leading time.
Having reached the 10km mark in an impressive 29:18, Ngetich, who won her first Diamond League title this year, fell off at the end, to mark a respectable time that still stands in Kenya as the national record over the distance.
Her other quest to make it back-to-back wins will not be a walk in the park, however, as she will come up against formidable candidates, including Ethiopia’s Fotyen Tesfay, who has a personal best of 1:03.21 in the distance.
That time - which took five minutes off her previous best - was set in last year’s edition, when she ran down Ngetich in second place.
Other Kenyans taking part in the already sold-out race will be: 2025 Barcelona Half Marathon runners-up Gladys Chepkurui, Jesca Chelangat, Veronica Loleo, and 2024 10,000m African champion Gladys Kwamboka.
The men’s race will involve reigning champion and course record holder Yomif Kejelcha, taking on a class field that will possess a number of Kenyans, including Patrick Mosin, Gideon Kiprotich, Samwel Mailu and Hillary Kipkoech.
