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Valencia Half Marathon 2026: Kwizera breaks Spanish record as Chepkirui wins by one second

Records tumbled and seconds decided victory at the 2026 Valencia Half Marathon, as Rodrigue Kwizera and Sheila Chepkirui topped the podium.

The 2026 Valencia Half Marathon lived up to its reputation for fast racing on Sunday (25 October), as Spain's Rodrigue Kwizera broke the national record and Kenya's Sheila Chepkirui Kiprotich won a thrilling women's race.

Formerly representing Burundi, Paris 2024 Olympian Kwizera clocked 58:03 to win the men's title, taking a huge chunk off the previous Spanish record of 59:39. The 27-year-old pulled away from training partner Thierry Ndikumwenayo (ESP) in the closing stages, with the latter finishing runner-up in 58:09.

Kenya's Victor Kipruto took third in 58:12, as five men broke 59 minutes, all recording personal bests.

The women's race was decided by the narrowest of margins, with Chepkirui, the 2024 New York City Marathon champion, holding off teammate and Commonwealth Games 10,000m silver medallist Diana Wanza to win by just one second.

Chepkirui's winning time of 1:03:51 tied her for fifth on the world all-time list, while Wanza improved on her personal best by more than three minutes to clock 1:03:52, sixth fastest all-time.

Kenya's Daisilah Jerono rounded out the podium in 1:04:11, with six women finishing inside 65 minutes.

The host nation broke both records today as Spain's Laura Luengo Caselles also gave the home crowd something to cheer about, setting a national women's record of 1:08:28.

Read on for the top 10 results below.

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