Conner Mantz’s 59:17 Shatters Ryan Hall’s Legendary American Half Marathon Record in Houston

Weini Kelati runs 66:09 to break women’s AR for second year in a row

Conner Mantz was not going to let anything stop him from breaking the American record at the 2025 Aramco Houston Half Marathon. Not a quad strain late in his buildup that forced him to grind workouts in the pool and on the hand bike. Not the chilly conditions in Houston (32 degrees Fahrenheit, 17-degree windchill at the start) on Sunday morning. And not the 14 mph headwinds he faced late in the race while enduring the pain of running 13.1 miles at 4:31 pace. Mantz narrowly lost a dramatic sprint finish for the win to Ethiopia’s Addisu Gobena, the 2024 Dubai Marathon champ, but his time of 59:17 took 26 seconds off the American record. After 18 years, Ryan Hall’s 59:43 AR – set on this same Houston course in 2007 – has finally gone.

“About 4-5k to go, I realized I’m struggling,” said Mantz on the race broadcast. “It was about damage control…When things got really hard, it was all about making sure I could still get that record.”

Conner Mantz 59:17 American Record in the Half Marathon Conner Mantz 59:17 American record in the half marathon (Kevin Morris photo)

A few minutes later, Weini Kelati joined Mantz in the record books by running 66:09 to break the American record in Houston for the second year in a row, taking 16 seconds off her time from 2024. She finished second overall behind 19-year-old Ethiopian Senayet Getachew (66:05), the 2023 world U20 cross country champion. Kelati said she battled stomach problems during the second half of the race, but despite her malady and the wind late in the race, her fitness was so far in front of last year that she was still able to break the record.

“My stomach was really upset but I’m glad I got the American record again,” Kelati said.

Weini Kelati 66:09 American record in the half marathon Weini Kelati 66:09 American record in the half marathon (Kevin Morris photo)

Below, recaps, results and quick takes on each race.

The races

A number of American men entered Houston with thoughts of the American record, most notably Mantz and 2021 10,000m Olympian Joe Klecker, but when pacer Amon Kemboi began to separate from the pack during the second mile, Mantz and Gobena (who ran 2:05:01 in his marathon debut as a 19-year-old last year  in Dubai) were the only ones to follow. By 5k (14:02 – 59:13 pace), they were joined by Tanzania’s Gabriel Geay (2:03:00) and two-time Houston Half champ Jemal Yimer of Ethiopia, and that group of four would run every step together until the sprint finish in the final mile.

The leaders went 14:02-13:59-14:06 for their first three 5k splits and passed 15k in 42:05 – on pace for a 59:11 finish time, well under the American record. With a tight pack of four remaining and the runners hitting a brutal headwind from 9-11 miles, the big question was whether anyone would try to keep pushing the pace in the absence of pacer Kemboi, who had dropped at 10k.

Fortunately for Mantz’s record hopes, Gobena stepped up and kept things rolling. Mantz briefly threw in a few surges of his own, but it was the Ethiopian who ensured the time remained fast, though they did slow slightly by splitting 14:18 from 15k to 20k. After turning east (and out of the wind) at 11 miles, the pack remained inseparable and Mantz soon found himself in a four-way sprint for the finish with under a quarter mile to run.

“[With] 100m to go, I realized, I could win this, why am I not sprinting right now?” Mantz said.

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Mantz and Gobena broke away from the others, with neither man yielding an inch, and crossed the line almost instantaneously, Gobena ultimately being credited with the victory by one hundredth of a second.

The top four men all ran under the previous course record of 59:22, set by Feyisa Lilesa in 2012. In all, a record seven Americans ran under 61:00 with Hillary Bor (6th, 60:20), Andrew Colley (8th, 60:47), Alex Maier (9th, 60:51), Clayton Young (10th, 60:52), Reed Fischer (12th, 60:54), and Ryan Ford (14th, 60:59) also dipping under. Olympic triathlete Morgan Pearson just missed out on joining them, finishing 15th in 61:01.

Klecker, meanwhile, struggled in his half debut, getting dropped early and finishing 18th in 61:06.

2025 Houston Half Marathon top 30 men’s results

Place Athlete Country Time
1 Addisu Gobena Ethiopia 59:17
2 Conner Mantz USA 59:17
3 Gabriel Geay Tanzania 59:18
4 Jemal Yimer Ethiopia 59:20
5 Patrick Dever Great Britain 1:00:11
6 Hillary Bor USA 1:00:20
7 Wesley Kiptoo Kenya 1:00:34
8 Andrew Colley USA 1:00:47
9 Alex Maier USA 1:00:51
10 Clayton Young USA 1:00:52
11 Marcelo Laguera Mexico 1:00:53
12 Reed Fischer USA 1:00:54
13 Morgan McDonald Australia 1:00:58
14 Ryan Ford USA 1:00:59
15 Morgan Pearson USA 1:01:01
16 Johannes Motschmann Germany 1:01:03
17 Alex Masai Kenya 1:01:04
18 Joe Klecker USA 1:01:06
19 Peter Lynch Ireland 1:01:15
20 Abe Gashahun Ethiopia 1:01:15
21 Athanas Kioko Kenya 1:01:18
22 Ben Flanagan Canada 1:01:19
23 Matthew Richtman USA 1:01:20
24 Tom Anderson Great Britain 1:01:21
25 Shuaib Aljabaly USA 1:01:21
26 Afewerki Zeru USA 1:01:21
27 Barry Keane Ireland 1:01:22
28 Zach Panning USA 1:01:25
29 Aaron Bienenfeld Germany 1:01:39
30 Tadu Abate Deme Ethiopia 1:01:45

*More results here

In the women’s race, Kelati, Getachew, and Ethiopia’s Buze Diriba hit 10k together in a quick 30:50 (65:03 pace) surrounded by an army of sub-elite men and Kelati’s personal pacer Abrham Tesfamariam. They would slow over the second half as the pack of men began to splinter and the wind picked up, but the record remained in reach for Kelati even as Getachew began to open a gap during mile 12.

Getachew held on for victory (even with Tesfamariam hanging back to help Kelati close the gap) while Kelati took second. Diriba was 3rd in 66:48 with the impressive Amanda Vestri fourth in 67:35 to move to #8 on the all-time US list. Natosha Rogers (68:35) rounded out the top five.

Israel’s Haimro Alame (2:08:17) and Ethiopia’s Kumeshi Sichala (2:20:42) won the full marathons. Christian Allen (7th in 2:10:32) finished as the top US man while Erika Kemp made a terrific debut to run 2:22:56 and finish 2nd in the women’s race.

2025 Houston Half Marathon top 30 women’s results

Place Athlete Country Time
1 Senayet Getachew Ethiopia 1:06:05
2 Weini Kelati USA 1:06:09
3 Buze Diriba Kejela Ethiopia 1:06:48
4 Amanda Vestri USA 1:07:35
5 Natosha Rogers USA 1:08:35
6 Lauren Ryan Australia 1:08:43
7 Emily Venters USA 1:08:48
8 Taylor Roe USA 1:08:48
9 Mercy Chelangat Kenya 1:08:57
10 Susanna Sullivan USA 1:08:59
11 Jessica Warner-Judd Great Britain 1:09:07
12 Miriam Dattke Germany 1:09:09
13 Lindsay Flanagan USA 1:09:17
14 Paige Wood USA 1:09:20
15 Diana Chepkorir Kenya 1:09:24
16 Jessica Gockley-Day USA 1:09:37
17 Aubrey Frentheway USA 1:09:42
18 Molly Bookmyer USA 1:09:44
19 Makena Morley USA 1:10:04
20 Megan Hasz USA 1:10:13
21 Amy Davis Green USA 1:10:27
22 Jessie Cardin USA 1:10:28
23 Anne-Marie Blaney USA 1:10:54
24 Elena Hayday USA 1:10:56
25 Dani Polerecky USA 1:11:08
26 Annamaria Kostarellis USA 1:11:22
27 Alicja Konieczek Poland 1:11:38
28 Mica Rivera Peru 1:11:51
29 Mackenzie Caldwell USA 1:11:59
30 Julia Paternain Uruguay 1:12:01

*More results here

Quick Take: Mantz impresses as Hall’s record finally falls

Conner Mantz during American record run in the half marathon (Kevin Morris photo) Conner Mantz during American record run in the half marathon (Kevin Morris photo)

Most distance fans knew Conner Mantz possessed the ability to run faster than Ryan Hall’s 59:43 American record. But records are not broken on paper. You still have to do it on the day, which is one of the reasons Hall’s record lasted so long.

Mantz’s coach Ed Eyestone said that as recently as 10 days ago, they were still undecided about running Houston due to Mantz’s quad injury that caused him to miss about a week and a half of running workouts. But Mantz looked good in his workout at the end of last week and wanted to take his shot in Houston.

Mantz benefited from a favorable race scenario as the lead pack ran aggressively but not too aggressively in the early going and Gobena was committed to keeping the pace honest even when conditions grew tough.

“Gobena did a lot of leading into the wind, which I was really grateful for,” Mantz said.

But Mantz also deserves credit for putting himself in position to benefit – he was the only American to go with the leaders today (Colley and Bor also went out on AR pace through 10k in 28:15, but they were a bit farther back).

Afterwards Mantz said he hopes to go faster, and he certainly looks capable of doing that one day. But he should savor this one. Hall’s 59:43 was one of the oldest, most iconic Americans on the books. Mantz may have had the advantage of modern supershoes, but supershoes or not, this was still a very strong performance.

“It’s a special one to me because the half marathon was how I got into running,” Mantz said. “How I got into running was trying to finish a half marathon when I was 12 years old…This is a record that I really wanted and I want to lower it down the road.”

It’s also worth noting that Mantz’s 15k split of 42:05 was faster than Todd Williams’ 42:22 American record for the distance, as was his 10-mile split of 45:16 (Hillary Bor’s AR is 45:56) and his 20k split of 56:23 (Dathan Ritzenhein’s AR is 56:48).

Quick Take: Ed Eyestone’s group continues to silence the doubters (aka LetsRun.com)

LetsRun.com named Ed Eyestone as our 2024 coach of the year after his group put together a number of stellar performances across the road, track, and cross country. Even as the calendar has turned to 2025, Mantz’s run today showed that Eyestone’s athletes are going to keep performing at a high level.

Eyestone’s athletes also made LetsRun.com look foolish on multiple occasions, whether it was Kenneth Rooks medalling in the Olympic steeplechase when we gave him a less than 1 percent chance to do so or BYU’s men defeating Oklahoma State at the NCAA XC champs

Once again, the LRC braintrust doubted one of Eyestone’s athletes heading into Houston this week. On our pre-race podcast on Friday, we picked against Mantz or any other American man breaking the AR in Houston due to the weather, with Robert Johnson saying that if any American were to break the record, it would be Mantz’s rival Joe Klecker.

Evidently, word reached Eyestone. When we messaged him to congratulate him on Mantz’s record after the race, he responded by saying “I think my guys like to prove you guys wrong, haha.”

At least this time, we acknowledged the dangers of doubting Eyestone’s group. When Rojo started the official Houston Half discussion thread on the messageboard late Saturday night, he ended it with the following note:

PS. We all know what’s going to happen. It hit me after we recorded the podcast. Whenever I have doubted anyone in Ed Eyestone’s group over the last year, they have made me look like a fool.

Rooks got the Olympic medal and the BYU boys took down Ok State. So since I said Klecker had the best shot on the pod, that means Mantz or Young is getting the AR.

Quick Take: The US field was historically deep

How deep was today’s race for the Americans? Consider that prior to today, the most Americans under 61:00 in the half in one year was three back in 2018. Today, seven Americans broke 61:00 in the same race.

American sub-61:00 half marathoners by year, 2015-24

2015: 1
2016: 0
2017: 1
2018: 3
2019: 0
2020:1
2021: 2
2022: 2
2023: 1
2024: 2

Bor’s 60:20 (now #6 on the all-time US list) is especially notable. Bor went for the AR last year in Valencia but fell apart late and faded to 61:20. He faded again on Sunday – he split 45:44 through 10 miles, which is faster than his own AR at that distance and sub-60:00 pace – but held on much better to run 60:20 and finish 6th overall.

The one American who struggled today was Joe Klecker, who was never a factor and finished 18th in 61:06. That’s not a disastrous time, but it’s certainly slower than what Klecker was hoping for. It just looks a lot worse considering how many Americans did run fast on Sunday in Houston.

Quick Take: The women’s American record tumbles again

Mantz’s 59:17 today marked just the second time in the last 39 years that someone had broken the men’s American record in the half. That is very different from the women’s record, which has now been broken six times in barely three years, including four straight years in Houston.

Ahead of the 2022 Houston Half, the AR belonged to Molly Huddle at 67:25 (also set in Houston in 2018). Here is the progression of the record since then:

67:15 Sara Hall 1/16/22 Houston
67:11 Emily Sisson 5/7/22 Indianapolis
66:52 Emily Sisson 1/15/23 Houston
66:39 Keira D’Amato 7/1/23 Gold Coast
66:25 Weini Kelati 1/14/24 Houston
66:09 Weini Kelati 1/19/25 Houston

There may still be some meat on the bone. Kelati was on low-65 pace through halfway on Sunday before developing a stomach issue, and at 28 she is young enough to take some more cracks at it in the years to come. She may need to improve the record if she wants to keep it long-term as Parker Valby is just 22 and should be a threat to challenge it when she moves to the roads.

Houston Half Talk:

From The Archives: LRC 59:43 Revisited: How Ryan Hall Did It, and Why His American Record Has Stood So Long

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