Moses Koech (KEN, age 25): His official PB for the half is 60:00 in Barcelona 2020, but this year he ran 59:31 for 4th at Roma-Ostia which is record ineligible I believe. Also paced INEOS. Represented Kenya as a junior in track and XC.
Center pacemaker: Noah Kipkemboi: (KEN, age 29) HM PB officially 60:52 from Lisbon 2018. Marathon PB from earlier this year in Vienna of 2:09:55. Also paced Eliud at INEOS, NN Mission Marathon 2021 and in Tokyo this year.
Philemon Kiplimo (KEN, age 23): Last pacer with Eliud until 25k (1:11:08) eclipsing Dennis Kimetto's 25k WR of 1:11:18 from 2012, also in Berlin, but at the BIG 25 Berlin race. Kiplimo is a 58:11 guy as mentioned above from when he placed 5th in Valencia 2020, last year at the same race he was also 5th and clocked 58:35. Seven times under the hour officially in HM.
All had quite excellent days in their own right and helped Kipchoge to the WR. Shame I don't think their HM times (PB for Koech and Kipkemboi) will be ratified. Does anyone know if Kiplimo's 25k WR is ratifiable. Hopefully they'll have great careers ahead. Thanks
Thank you Mr. Cooper for the update which was very much appreciated. Koech and Kiplimo are still babies in running terms and so they have long careers ahead of them if they don’t get injured.
I think the men's half records is one of the weaker records out there right now for the men, and it will be broken soon. The day Ryan Hall ran the American half marathon record there were only 4 American men to have ever run sub 27:30 for 10,000 meters on the track, a standard environment with accurate measurement we can all agree on, and the American record for that event was 27:13 by Meb and the next best time of 27:20 by Mark Nenow. Fast forward 15 year and we now have an additional 18 more guys sub 27:30, and 6 guys faster than the old record that existed when Ryan Hall set the half record. My point being we have improved drastically as a distance running country, winning a few global medals in the past decade compared to not much in the 90's and 2000's outside of Meb in Athens? Some of these 18 sub 27:30 10,000 runners will be running half marathon, so these will be some of the fastest ever runners we've had in the history of the United States running the half marathon, someone will break the record soon. Someone like Conner Mantz, Joe Klecker, Grant Fisher, Woody Kincaid, possibly a couple others, it wouldn't be shocking if they run 59:30's if they give it a real try in the prime of their careers. Dathan Ritzenhein ran 60 flat and he's not significantly faster than these other guys I just mentioned. In the next five years I think we'll have a new half marathon American record. The most likely being from Grant Fisher. I could see him fully committing to the track through the next olympics and probably 2025, then at age 28-30 start dabbling in the roads and run a half marathon, and possibly even move to the marathon in his 30's. And really I wouldn't be shocked if Rupp still had something left in him and ran 59:40 in the next year. There are a lot of people who have run around 61 flat who are 'only' running 28 flat for 10,000 meters so these guys running low 27's or sub 27 should be able to run well under 60 flat.
Very much agreed that HM US record is weak, as is US half marathoning in general. This is the range of IAAF point ratings for top 10 all-time US performer across distance events. 5k and 10k are much better comparatively. Marathon is weaker as well but not as bad.
5000m: 1214-1258 (12:46-12:58)
10000m: 1197-1268 (26:33-27:16)
Half Marathon: 1150-1198 (59:43-60:55)
Marathon: 1174-1234 (2:05:38-2:09:09)
1 59:43 Ryan HALL 14 OCT 1982 USA 1 Houston, TX (USA) 14 JAN 2007 1198 2 59:47 Galen RUPP 08 MAY 1986 USA 1 Ostia (ITA) 11 MAR 2018 1195 3 59:52 Leonard KORIR 10 DEC 1986 USA 3 New Delhi (IND) 19 NOV 2017 1192 4 1:00:00 Dathan RITZENHEIN 30 DEC 1982 USA 3 Birmingham (GBR) 11 OCT 2009 1186 5 1:00:37 Samuel CHELANGA 23 FEB 1985 USA 6 Houston, TX (USA) 14 JAN 2018 1162 6 1:00:39 Mohamed TRAFEH 01 MAY 1985 USA 3 New York, NY (USA) 21 MAR 2010 1160 7 1:00:44 Kirubel ERASSA 17 JUN 1993 USA 4 Houston, TX (USA) 16 JAN 2022 1157 8 1:00:51 Diego ESTRADA 19 DEC 1989 USA 1 Houston, TX (USA) 18 JAN 2015 1152 9 1:00:55 Mark CURP 05 JAN 1959 USA 1 Philadelphia, PA (USA) 15 SEP 1985 1150 9 1:00:55 Conner MANTZ 08 DEC 1996 USA 1 Hardeeville, SC (USA) 05 DEC 2021 1150
Huh? No names? Look them up to see their credentials. A 58.xx hakf marathon guy is ultra elite. Rather, I think you just don’t follow the international side of the sport closely enough.
You do realize that Kiplimo was referred to as “the last pacesetter” in the Letsrun summary of the race.
You also do realize that the race commentator said that “the pacesetters did a “fine” job” after Kiplimo broke the 25km WR by 10s
Don’t pretend that Philemon Kiplimo would not be a superstar if he was American or European and that he would not be referred to simply as “one of the pacesetter” by the media.
It took quite a bit of research for me to find out who he/they were (since I did not watch the race).
If they moved to the US, they would be US record holders, Olympians…
Instead, we don’t know their names
Uhhh, so 3 doped to the gills clowns run close to the American record and thats newsworthy?
Also, who the hell cares about half marathon times? Not much talent or competition there. Wake me up when they run a 10000 thats superior to 26:33 and a 5000 thats superior to 12:46. They wont.
Wake me up when your crush wins a global medal. He ain't.
Think the point is not to knock Hall and Ritz, but to bemoan the lack of anyone else being that fast in the US.
That said, Grant Fisher should be able to go 58-something if he wanted to
No. Grant Fisher would be so consumed with wind drafting and racing the tangents efficiently, G.F. would get boxed and and claim someone tripped him. G.F. will not race 1/2 Marathon any faster than 59:16
Hall finished his career before the super shoes era. With super shoes Ryan could have been a 58:00-58:50 runner. He was tailor made for the half marathon, with his flowing stride and running economy and good base as a 1316 5000 m runner without really focusing on the track. You could say the same thing about Dathan Ritz who has the best of around 1:00:00 but teleported to the super shoes era he would’ve also been in the same ballpark as Ryan. The caveat for the Illinois native was his propensity to become injured. His 12:56/5000 has to be one of the most monstrous performances ever set by a US runner.