Ryan Hall Runs Incredible 59:43 for the Half Marathon Becomes the First American Under 1 Hour in the Half Marathon by: LetsRun.com January 14, 2007
Ryan Hall ran 59:43 for the half-marathon, an American and North American record, and one of the best performances ever by an American at any distance. Running in the US Half Marathon Championships at the Aramco Houston Half Marathon, Hall shattered the long standing American record (1985) in the Half-Marathon of 1:00:55 set by Mark Curp in 1985 in Philadelphia.
David Monti of Race Results Weekly reports: (for the best full race recap of Ryan's run, with quotes from Ryan click below)
Hall won the US championships easily and among the runners left in his wake was Olympic silver medallist Meb Keflezighi who ran 1:02:22, for 3rd, just behind Fasil Bizuneh who was 2nd in 1:02:22. Hall pocketed $21,000 for his win ($12,000 for the US Title, $5000 for the Race Record, and $4000 for the US Record.
On a non-aided course, Hall's performance is the 9th best ever in the world 58:55 ( 1) Haile Gebreselasie (ETH) 18 Apr 1973 15 Jan 2006 Tempe AZ USA* 59:07 ( 1) Paul Kosgei (KEN) 22 Apr 1978 02 Apr 2006 Berlin GER 59:15.4 ( 1) Zerisenay Tadesse- 2 08 Feb 1982 10 Sep 2006 Rotterdam NED 59:15.8 ( 1) Samuel Wanjiru (KEN) 10 Nov 1986 11 Sep 2005 Rotterdam NED 59:17 ( 1) Paul Tergat- 2 17 Jun 1969 04 Apr 1998 Milan ITA 59:22 ( 1) Paul Tergat- 3 17 Jun 1969 17 Apr 1999 Milan ITA 59:27.1 ( 2) Robert Kipchumba (KEN) 24 Feb 1984 10 Sep 2006 Rotterdam NED 59:29 ( 2) Evans Cheruiyot (KEN) 1980 02 Apr 2006 Berlin GER *The ARRS considers Gebrselassie's record to be aided since the start was more than 30% of the race distance from the finish. The IAAF uses a more relaxed 50% standard (For a full list of half marathon times, including a few aided courses that the ARRS recognizes click here)
On performance charts, where performances of various distances can be compared, LetsRun.com John Kellogg (JK) says Hall's performance on his charts comes out as the "second best American performance EVER (time wise) at any distance" coming out only being Khalid Khannouchi's 2:05:38 world record marathon.