Yomif Kejelcha sighs on the podium, already under the rain of Valencia, which follows him year after year. The Ethiopian can’t find the perfect day. Last year, against the wind, on a circuit full of puddles, he emerged victorious and broke the record by a second (57m 30s). Enough. This year he was far away, slightly over 58 minutes (58m 2s), and as soon as he crossed the finish line on Avenida de los Naranjos, next to the university, he emptied his body on the blue carpet and showed where the real problem was. Kenyan Agnes Ngetich also tried, but had to settle for the third best time in history (1h 3m 8s). The most smiling, the Swede Andreas Almgren, who becomes the first European athlete to go under 59 minutes in a half marathon (58m 41s) and lowers by 32 seconds a continental record of the Swiss Julien Wanders that was on its way to being seven years old.
Almgren, a former 800m runner, breaks the European record in his second half marathon. The 30-year-old Swede also encountered difficulties and from kilometer seven to 15, without help, he pushed decisively in search of the 59-minute mark. that now they see themselves capable of being familiar with Africans, and he wants to be one of them. At the World Championships in September, he already won the bronze medal in the 10,000m final, and, meanwhile, he is trying to monopolize all the records in long-distance events on his continent. He already has the 5,000m, 10km and half marathon. “The marathon?” he laughs at the question. “Later. Now I want to focus on the track until the Los Angeles Games.”
The Swede had his particular desert journey years ago, when he suffered one injury after another between 2016 and 2019. Then he decided to become a more scientific athlete and started working with Svexa (Silicon Valley Exercise Valley), a company that uses AI and data science. Almgren already holds the Swedish record from 1,500m to the half marathon and can also boast of being the first European athlete to go under 27 minutes in 10 kilometers and 59 minutes in the half marathon.
Said Mechaal stuck to Almgren’s back in the first half of the race. The Catalan, Adel’s little brother, fifth in the Tokyo Games in the 1,500m, had just broken the Spanish 15km record and decided to take a risk. A suicidal bet that cost him the national record and the honor of being the first Spaniard in the Valencia Half Marathon. In the final stretch he was hunted by Carlos Mayo, the Aragonese who retained his record and who also surpassed him in the last 300 meters (1h 46s). Carla Gallardo from Palencia managed to become the sixth best Spaniard of all time (1h 9m 14s).
