The world half marathon records set by Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey and Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo last year have been ratified.
Gidey ran 1:02:52 at the Valencia Half Marathon Trinidad Alfonso EDP when making her debut at the distance on 24 October, while Kiplimo clocked 57:31 at the EDP Lisbon Half Marathon on 21 November.
Gidey, competing in the same Spanish city where she had broken the world 5000m record in 2020, took 70 seconds off the previous world half marathon record of 1:04:02 set by Kenya’s world marathon champion Ruth Chepngetich in Istanbul on 4 April 2021.
As a result, 23-year-old Gidey became the first woman to officially break the 64- and 63-minute barriers for the half marathon. She was also the first debutante to set a world record for the distance.
“I knew I could run this kind of time as my training sessions in the altitude of Addis Ababa have gone very well,” said Gidey, the Olympic bronze medallist and world silver medallist over 10,000m. “In future I’m thinking of competing at the marathon distance but I’m not sure that will come before the Paris 2024 Olympic Games or later.”
Less than a month later, world half marathon champion Kiplimo won his race by more than two minutes to shave one second from the previous world record set by Kenya’s Kibiwott Kandie in Valencia on 6 December 2020.
Having reached the 10km point in 27:05, Kiplimo was well on schedule to break the record and his 15km split time of 40:27 was the fastest ever recorded for the distance.
World Half Marathon Records Ratified for Letesenbet & Kiplimo
Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegaye recovered from fall to win Lievin
Gudaf Tsegay returned to Lievin looking to recapture the magic that carried her to a world indoor 1500m record last year. This time the world and Olympic bronze medalist was contesting the mile and had Genzebe Dibaba’s world indoor record of 4:13.31 in her sights.
Or at least she did – until she tripped and fell on the first lap. She got back up soon enough and by the second lap she was in second place behind the pacemaker. But she clearly looked uncomfortable and was never on pace to threaten the world indoor record.
Nevertheless, she shook off a mid-race challenge from compatriot Axumawit Embaye and went on to win in 4:21.72, breaking a meeting record that had stood for 20 years. Axumawit finished second in 4:25.30.
Premier League clubs’ spent £295m in 2022 transfer market
Despite spending more than four times as much as they did in January last year, Premier League clubs were still some way short of the all-time record – with Newcastle unsurprisingly leading the way with their newfound riches.
According to new figures from Deloitte, in total, Prem clubs spent over £295m in January – a figure that dwarfs the £70m spent in the top-flight in the same month last year.
But that sum still pales in comparison to the enormous £430m that was spent in the Premier League back in the 2018 winter window.
Following their £305million Saudi-backed takeover in October, Newcastle were the league’s highest spenders splashing an enormous £85m on deals to bring Kieran Tripper, Chris Wood,Bruno Guimaraes, Matt Target and Dan Burn to St James’ Park.
In fact, more than half (£150m) of the total expenditure for the month was spent by the five teams at the bottom of the Premier League as clubs desperately bid to bolster their survival hopes.
Despite spending levels dwarfing last year’s, the Premier League’s big-hitters were reluctant to spend – with Newcastle’s outlay totaling more than the entire expenditure racked up by the current top-six combined.
The initial £37.5m fee that Liverpool paid to capture Luis Diaz was January’s biggest deal just ahead of the £35m that Newcastle parted with to prise Guimaraes away from Lyon.
Some clubs, such as Manchester United, failed to make a single signing in January.
Coffee exports increased
In the first seven months of the 2021/22 budget year coffee export earnings climbs by 86.2 percent compared with the same period of last year.
Similarly the volume of the bean exported in the stated period has surged by 56.8 percent from the same period a year ago.
The performance is not only surpassing the preceding year operation but it has also broken the projection set to be achieved in the stated period by 19 percent and 43 percent of volume and value respectively.
Based on that in the first seven months (until January 2022) the country exported 162,818 metric tons of coffee and earned USD 645.1 million.
