Uganda’s Olympic bronze medallist Jacob Kiplimo has broken the half marathon world record with a time of 57min 31sec in the Portuguese capital Lisbon.

Competing in the Lisbon Half Marathon, Kiplimo knocked a second off the previous record set by Kenya’s Kibiwott Kandie at the Valencia Half Marathon last December.

The 21-year-old Kandie had become the first man to break the 58-minute mark at the race in Spain.

Kiplimo’s previous half marathon personal best was also set at the 2020 race in Valencia, where he clocked 57:37 as he finished second.

He triumphed by more than two minutes over Ethiopia’s Tsehay Gemechu in Lisbon.

Kiplimo completed the first five kilometres in 13:40 and remained on course for the world record with 27:05 at 10km.

A time of 40:27 after 15km – also a record for that distance – a pace which would have equated to a sub-57 minutes finish over the half marathon.

He slowed slightly towards the end of the race but crossed the finishing line in 57:31 to break the record.

Kiplimo is the reigning half marathon world champion, having earned the title in the Polish city of Gdynia last year.

The Ugandan athlete clinched a bronze in the men’s 10,000 metres race at Tokyo 2020 this summer and placed fifth in the 5,000m.

He earned a World Cross Country Championships individual silver and team gold in Aarhus in Denmark in 2019.

At the 2020 World Half Marathon Championships, Kiplimo contributed to a men’s team bronze for Uganda alongside his individual gold.

At junior level, Kiplimo earned a 10,000m bronze and silver at the World Championships in 2016 and 2018 respectively and the men’s cross country world title in 2017.

The women’s race in Lisbon was won by Ethiopia’s Tsehay Gemechu, who clocked 1:06:19.