Former 10km world record-holder Yalemzerf Yehualaw returns from maternity leave in a world-class field, with some of Britain’s best road and track runners among those joining her on the start line.

Valencia’s flat, fast course has twice produced a half-marathon world record and a sizeable British contingent is heading to the Spanish city on Sunday (October 25) to chase fast times of their own. Among them are some of Britain’s leading road and track runners, who have been drawn by the course’s reputation and will line up with the elite field.

Charlie Wheeler and Ben Connor head the leading British men on paper. Wheeler, who has a PB of 1:01:28, ran 1:01:28 here last year, when Connor clocked 1:01:32. Connor, 33, has a best of 1:00:55 and is the quickest Briton on the elite list. Wheeler ran 1:02:18 at last month’s World Road Running Championships in Copenhagen, where he finished 47th.

They are joined in the elite entries by Finley Proffitt (1:03:19), Andrew Fyfe (1:03:29), Edward Buck (1:04:04), Ben Felton (1:04:52), Max Abernethy (1:05:13), Carl Avery (1:05:27), Christopher Coulson (1:05:40), Sam Griffiths (1:05:51) and Ugur Altan (1:05:58).

Samantha Harrison has a best of 1:07:10 and is the leading British woman on the elite list, ahead of Clara Evans (1:09:00) and Lily Partridge (1:09:12). Partridge was the leading Briton here last year with 69:52.

Rose Harvey (1:10:02), Louise Small (1:10:23), Charlotte Dannatt (1:10:42), Nancy Scott (1:13:01), Yvette Lock (1:13:03), Alice Wright (1:13:17) and Sarah Forbes-Smith (1:17:26) are also among the entries, as are Inca Padfield and Stevie Lawrence-Wrist.

Yehualaw back in action

The British runners will be competing in a high-class international field and the women’s race is headed by Ethiopia’s Yalemzerf Yehualaw, who is back in action after maternity leave. Her last race was the Boston Marathon in April 2025, where she finished third in 2:18:06. The race organisers expect her to deliver a solid performance and suggest she may be using it as a stepping stone to the Valencia Marathon on December 6.

Yehualaw is still the fastest woman in the field by a long way thanks to the 1:03:51 she ran in Valencia in 2021, on the day Letesenbet Gidey set the world record of 1:02:52. It remains the seventh fastest half marathon in history.

She won the 2022 London Marathon in 2:17:26 to become the youngest woman to win the race, set a course record of 2:16:52 at the 2024 Amsterdam Marathon and finished fifth in the marathon at the 2023 World Championships. She also won a bronze medal in the individual race and a team gold at the 2020 World Half Marathon Championships, and is a former world record-holder for 10km, having run 29:14 in 2022.

Her chief opposition comes from Ethiopia’s Tsigie Gebreselama (1:04:21), the two-time Lisbon Half Marathon winner, and Kenya’s Veronica Loleo, who won a silver medal in Copenhagen and has a PB of 1:05:35.

Daisilah Jerono (1:05:21) and Ftaw Zeray (1:05:12) are also in the field, as is Belgium’s Jana Van Lent, who won a bronze medal in the 10,000m at the European Championships in Birmingham this summer. Spain’s Carla Gallardo has a national record of 1:08:30.

Men’s race

The men’s race has a chance of producing a first Spanish winner. Rodrigue Kwizera, who received Spanish citizenship this summer, owns the fastest PB in the field of 58:16, which he ran to win in Prague in May while still competing for Burundi.

That mark is 1:23 inside the Spanish record of 59:39 set by Carlos Mayo in Valencia in 2023. He is being pushed by his training partner Thierry Ndikumwenayo, whose 59:42 from two years ago was three seconds off the record.

Their rivals include Kenya’s Andrea Kiptoo (59:11) and Owen Kapkama (58:58), Alex Matata and Daniel Ebenyo, who finished 8th and 9th in Copenhagen, and Ethiopia’s Tadese Worku (58:35) and Jemal Yimer (58:33), the 2018 winner. The entry list also includes Kenenisa Bekele.

The course records, both world records at the time, are 57:30 by Yomif Kejelcha (2024) and 1:02:52 by Gidey (2021).

Start times and how to watch

The elite race starts at 8:25am local time, which is 7:25am UK time, as the clocks go back in both countries that morning. The race can be streamed on mediomaratonvalencia.com from 8:00am local time (7:00am UK). It is also shown on TV in Spain. Last year it was streamed free worldwide.