Jacob Kiplimo
Jacob Kiplimo (born 14 November 2000) is a Ugandan long-distance runner who competes in track running events. He is the 2020 Half Marathon World Champion. He represented his country at the 2016 Summer Olympics. He is the 2017 IAAF World Cross Country Junior champion. In 2019, he became the World Cross Country Silver medallist at the age of 18. On Nov 21, 2021, Kiplimo set the Half-Marathon World Record at 57:31 in Lisbon. Career. A member of the Sebei ethnic group, he grew up in Bukwo on Mount Elgon, living at high altitude. At the age  of fifteen he won the 10,000 metres bronze medal at the 2016 IAAF World U20 Championships behind fellow East Africans Rodgers Kwemoi and Aron Kifle. Of as much importance as that placing was his time of 13:24:40 minutes for the 5000 metres in Rome that May. That was enough to reach the Olympic standard and gain selection for Uganda at the 2016 Summer Olympics. As a result, he became the youngest ever Olympian for Uganda. Prior to the 2016 Rio Olympics, he improved his 5000 m best further to 13:19.54 minutes. The youngest entrant to the competition he ran in  the Olympic heats only, recording a time of 13:30.40 minutes for eleventh in his race. He is the youngest ever competitor for Uganda at the Olympic Games, with the age of 15. At age 16, Jacob Kiplimo produced a performance of a lifetime to win gold in the men's U20 race at the 2017 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Kampala, the country's first ever gold medal at a World Cross, covering the 8 km course in 22:40 minutes. Kiplimo won the San Silvestre 10k in a time of 26:41 on 31 Dec 2018. As the course has  an elevation drop, it won't count for record purposes. His win set a new course record, formerly set by Eliud Kipchoge in 2006 with 26:54. At the Ugandan Cross Country Championships on 16 Feb 2019 in Tororo, Kiplimo defeated Joshua Cheptegei by both placing first and second respectively. In the men's senior race over 10 km, Kiplimo won by an 11-second lead over the 10,000 m world championship runner up. At the 2019 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Aarhus, Denmark, Kiplimo finished second in the senior men's race 4 seconds after Joshua Cheptegei's winning  time of 31:40. He won the gold medal in the teams ranking with Cheptegei from Uganda. Kiplimo did not run in the 10,000 metres at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, because of an injury. On 31 December 2019, Kiplimo ran the Saint Silvester Road Race and was beaten by Kibiwott Kandie on the finish line. Kandie won in 42:59 a new course record with Kiplimo finishing in 43:00. In 2020 Kiplimo won the 5000 m run in Ostrava on 8 September in a time of 12:48.63 and improved his personal best of 13:13.64 set as a 16 year  old in the 2017 Prefontaine Classic. Selemon Barega was the runner up with a time 12:49.08, his personal best of 12:43.02 is the 5th fastest ever. On 17 September Kiplimo won a Diamond League 3000 m run in Rome in a time of 7:26.64, the fastest 3000 m since Kenenisa's 7:25.70 in August 2007. Kiplimo's time is the 8th fastest time ever and second placed Jakob Ingebrigtsen time of 7:27.05 became the 9th. He won the Half Marathon World Championship in a time of 58:49 on 17 October 2020. The event took place in Gdynia, Poland and was  a Ugandan record and championship record. On 6 December, 2020, Jacob Kiplimo competed in the Valencia Half Marathon. Kiplimo would be competing against the World silver medalist in the Half Marathon World Championships, Kibiwott Kandie. Jacob would also be competing against Rhonex Kipruto of Kenya, who was making his Half Marathon Debut, and holds the current world record in the 10K on the Road. With just around 1 kilometer remaining, Kandie made a strong move for the victory, and Jacob could not keep up with Kandie's surge. At the end of it all, Kandie, Kiplimo, Kipruto, and also  Alexander Mutiso of Kenya, all broke the previous world record of 58:01, set by Geoffrey Kamworor of Kenya back in September 2019 in Copenhagen. Kandie finished in a world record time of 57:32, with Kiplimo finishing just behind in 57:37. Kipruto also set a debut world record with a time of 57:49, with Mutiso finishing in 57:59. His time of 57:37 is a national record for Uganda. On 21 March, 2021 Kiplimo competed at the Campaccio-International Cross Country race in San Giorgio su Legnano, Italy. Despite falling during the ninth kilometer of the race Kiplimo won the 10km  in 29:07. Ethiopia's Nebret Melak finished second, and Jacob Kiplimo's younger brother Oscar Chelimo finished 3rd. On 19 May, 2021 Kiplimo returned to the track racing 10000m at the 60th Ostrava Golden Spike in Ostrava, Czech Republic. Jacob pulled away from Bahrain's Birhanu Balew to win the race. Kiplimo finished in a personal best time of 26:33.93, which made him the 7th fastest 10000m performer of all time, and the second fastest Ugandan in history over the distance behind world record holder Joshua Cheptegei's 26:11.00. On 21 November, 2021, Kiplimo set the Half-Marathon  World Record at 57:31 in Lisbon. Personal bests. All information from IAAF Profile.