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The 27-year-old Kenyan surpassed her previous best mark by 18 seconds, set in Prague on September 5, narrowly beating Germany’s Melat Kejeta by just two seconds. Ethiopia’s Yalemzerf Yehualaw was one second behind to take bronze in an extraordinarily close race.
It was Jepchirchir’s second half-marathon world title, having previously taken gold in 2016.
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In the men’s race, 19-year-old Jacob Kiplimo revolutionized the field to take gold in a championship-record time of 58 minutes and 49 seconds. The Ugandan surpassed Kibiwott Kandie of Kenya and Amedework Walelegn of Ethiopia, who finished second and third respectively.
Track star Joshua Cheptegei, who broke the 10,000-meter world record last week, was making his half-marathon debut and finished fourth in 59 minutes and 21 seconds. He also holds the world record for 5,000 meters.
The championships were originally scheduled for March, but were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
