Joyciline Jepkosgei during a past race/ HANDOUTKenyan road-running stars Joyciline Jepkosgei and Gideon Kiprotich dominated the Cardiff Half Marathon on Sunday, claiming the women’s and men’s titles impressively.
Jepkosgei was the standout performer, smashing the women’s course record with a blistering 1:05:40 to erase the previous mark of 1:05:52 set by compatriot Edith Chelimo in 2017.
The former world half marathon record-holder pulled away from Ethiopia’s Wede Kefale and Tigist Tesema to win comfortably, with Kefale second in 1:05:54 and Tesema third in 1:07:23. The Cardiff victory was Jepkosgei’s debut in the race and provided an ideal confidence boost ahead of her title defence at the Valencia Marathon on December 6.
She returns to Spain as the reigning champion after winning last year’s race in a world-leading 2:14:00. The 32-year-old has established herself as one of the most accomplished half marathon specialists of her generation.
She is a two-time Barcelona Half Marathon champion, winning in 1:04:29 in 2024 before improving the course record to 1:04:13 the following year. That mark was lowered this year by compatriot Loice Chemnung, who ran 1:04:01.
Jepkosgei has also won half marathons in Valencia (1:04:51) and Prague (1:04:52) in 2017, as well as Berlin in 2021 in 1:05:16. She was second in Barcelona in 2023 in 1:04:46, finishing behind Irine Kimais, who won in 1:04:37.
Her 2026 season had produced mixed results before Cardiff. She finished third at the London Marathon in 2:15:55 behind winner Tigst Assefa (2:15:41) and runner-up Hellen Obiri (2:15:33), before turning to track competition at the Kenya Defence Forces Championships.
Jepkosgei finished fourth in both the 5,000m (15:58.76) and 10,000m (33:09.38). In the men’s race, Kiprotich clocked 59:43 to claim the title, beating defending champion Yismaw Dillu of Ethiopia, who finished second in 1:00:18. Jonah Ruto was third in 1:01:13.
The victory offered Kiprotich redemption after he finished a disappointing 13th in his previous half marathon in Berlin, where he clocked 1:01:06.
