Haile smashes half-marathon record

Ethiopian distance star Haile Gebrselassie today shattered the world half-marathon record by 21 seconds.

The 32-year-old, twice Olympic 10,000 metres champion, also smashed Paul Tergat’s 20-kilometre record en route and finished in a time of 58 minutes and 55 seconds as he ran the second half of the Rock n Roll Arizona marathon in the United States.

The previous best time for the half-marathon was set by 18-year-old Kenyan Samuel Wanjiru, who ran 59:16 in Rotterdam last September.

It is the 20th time in his career that Gebrselassie has broken a world mark.