Swedish athlete Andreas Almgren became the first European to break 59 minutes in the half-marathon, clocking 58:41 at the Valencia race. He thus set the continental record, surpassing the previous mark by Swiss Julien Wanders by 32 seconds. In the women's race, Kenyan Agnes Ngetich achieved the third-best world time ever with 1:03:08.
The Valencia Half-Marathon witnessed a historic moment this Sunday when 30-year-old Andreas Almgren, a former 800-meter specialist, crossed the finish line in 58 minutes and 41 seconds, breaking the European record held by Julien Wanders for nearly seven years. Inspired by figures like Jakob Ingebrigtsen to compete at the highest level against African athletes, Almgren now holds several continental records in distance events: he is the first European under 27 minutes for 10 kilometers and now under 59 for the half-marathon. He also holds Swedish records from 1,500 meters to today's distance. In September, he won bronze in the 10,000 meters at the World Athletics Championships.
Almgren overcame a tough injury period from 2016 to 2019 and has since trained with Svexa, a company using artificial intelligence and data science. "The marathon? Later. Now I want to focus on the track until the Los Angeles Games," the Swede commented, having pushed solo from kilometer 7 to 15 to reach his goal.
In the men's race, Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha, who set the world record last year at 57:30 in the same event, finished at 58:02 after stomach issues that left him vomiting at the end. Spaniard Said Mechaal, brother of Adel Mechaal, tried to break the national record but was overtaken in the final 300 meters by Carlos Mayo, who retained his mark at 1:00:46 and placed fifth. In the women's event, Palencia's Carla Gallardo clocked 1:09:14, the sixth-best Spanish time ever.