Ethiopian Yalemzerf Yehualaw Sunday broke the half marathon world record in a time of 63min 43sec in the Antrim Coast Half Marathon.
Yehualaw, who is a part of NN Running Team, broke the previous record set by Kenyan Ruth Chepngetich by 19 seconds in Larne in Northern Ireland.
“A dream come true, something I have worked for all my life,” Yalemzef said.
“I was frustrated after not getting it in Istanbul but I am extremely happy now!”
Yehualaw ran the opening five kilometres in 15:05, eight seconds inside the world-record pace.
After 15km, Yehualaw was six seconds clear of the world record, in 45:24, before producing a blistering final 6km to extend her advantage.
Kenya’s Vane Nyaboke finished second, more than six minutes in arrears, with Briton Rose Harvey a further 32 seconds back in third.
Yehualaw only made her international debut in 2019 but won gold at the Rabat 2019 African Games.
In 2020, Yehualaw won a bronze medal at the World Half Marathon Championships in Gdynia.
She set a personal best of 64:46 at the New Delhi Half Marathon in 2020, before shaving a further six seconds off that in Istanbul earlier this year, good for third-fastest of all time at the time.
MG/as/APA