Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo runs ridiculous 15K record time

On Sunday, Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo, the reigning world cross-country champion, made a return to the roads at the renowned NN Zevenheuvelenloop (Seven Hills Race) 15K in Nijmegen, Netherlands. Kiplimo won the race in a new world best time of 41:05, maintaining an impressive average pace of two minutes and 44 seconds per kilometre.

Kiplimo’s speedy performance equalled the course record set by his friend and compatriot Joshua Cheptegei, who posted the same time at this race in 2018. After a conservative start with a 5K split of 14:24, Kiplimo accelerated in the final 10 kilometres, covering it in 26:41 (2:40/km pace). He closed his final kilometre in a mind-blowing two minutes and 31 seconds to secure a commanding minute and a half victory over fellow Ugandan Rogers Kibet (42:44).

#Athlétisme #Nimègue #15K Voici les temps de passage (splits) de l'Ougandais Jacob Kiplimo, kilomètre par kilomètre, au NN Zevenheuvelenloop (@7Hloop). En parcourant les 15km en 41'05", il a égalé la meilleure performance de tous les temps sur la distance (Joshua Cheptegei, 2018) pic.twitter.com/av9eaT9oPo

— Ismaël Bouchafra-Hennequin (@isma57) November 20, 2023

Notably, the NN Zevenheuvelenloop 15K marked only Kiplimo’s second race since recovering from an injury that sidelined him from the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest and the inaugural World Road Running Championships in Latvia.

At 23, Kiplimo holds the world half marathon record of 57:31, set at the 2021 Lisbon Half Marathon. While his latest performance is the fastest-ever in a standalone 15K race, it’s worth mentioning that Kiplimo recorded an even faster 15 km split of 40:27 on his way to the half-marathon world record in Lisbon.

Despite several record-setting attempts in the half, Kiplimo has not yet raced a marathon. Speculation among track and field fans persists about when he will make his marathon debut, with questions about whether he could be the first to break the two-hour mark for the distance. Meanwhile, his compatriot and rival, Cheptegei, is set to make his marathon debut at the 2023 Valencia Marathon on Dec. 3.

In the women’s race, Beatrice Chepkoech, the world 3,000m steeplechase record-holder, displayed her dominance with a convincing 43-second victory over world championship medallist Lonah Salpeter of Israel, completing the race in 47:12. Stella Chesang of Kenya secured a spot on the podium with a time of 48:01.