Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya, 23, broke the world record in the 2016 World Half Marathon champion

Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya, 23, broke the world record in the 2016 World Half Marathon champion

Peres Jepchirchir of Kenya, 23, broke the world record by running a sensational 65:06 at the 2017 RAK Half Marathon Friday morning (Thursday night US time) to defeat Mary Keitany as they waged an epic duel in a race that featured arguably the greatest women’s half marathon field ever assembled.

Jepchirchir, the 2016 World Half Marathon champion, ran a negative split to break Florence Kiplagat’s 65:09 world records from 2015. Each of Jepchirchir’s 5k splits in the 21.1 km/13.1 mile race were faster than the previous as she ran 15:37 for the first 5km segment, then 15:27, 15:24 and 15:10 from 15k to 20k to finally drop Keitany. At that point, Jepchirchir was chasing history.

Jepchirchir dug extremely deep for the world record. Her form was completely falling apart as she neared the finish line (she slowed the final 1.0975km, running 15:43 pace for that stretch of the race), her face sporting an intense grimace as her torso swayed from side to side. Jepchirchir managed to hang on before collapsing immediately after the finish line, where she had to be carried away from the finish area.