Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo became the first person to run a half marathon below 57 minutes as he shattered the world record by 48 seconds in Barcelona.

The 24-year-old ran 56 minutes and 42 seconds to eclipse Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha’s previous world record of 57:30 set in Valencia in October.

Kiplimo’s time is the best single improvement on the men’s world half-marathon record.

“I am very excited about what I did today,” said the former 10,000m Olympic and World Championships bronze medallist.

“I wanted to have a great race, but I didn’t expect to break the world record.

“I started very strong in the first two kilometres to get away from my rivals. As the kilometres passed and I saw that I was going at record pace, I told myself that I had to maintain that pace no matter what it took.”

He also set a world best of 39:47 for 15km during the World Athletics event, which was held in perfect conditions of 13ºC with no wind.

Kiplimo’s compatriot Geoffrey Kamworor finished second (58:44) ahead of Kenya’s Samuel Mailu (59:40).