The 19-year-old Ethiopian runner Wudinesh Alemu, running in the second half marathon of her career, improved the World Under-20 best to win the Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon recently.
The World Athletics Gold Label Road Race in New Delhi has seen several globally acclaimed performances in the past, and the 2026 edition added another milestone with Alemu’s outstanding run. Alemu clocked 1:06:35 to snatch the women’s title and, in the process, chipped in 12 seconds off her countrymate Degitu Azimeraw’s 2018 mark set in Ras Al Khaimah (RAK).
Incidentally, Azimeraw won the Tata Steel World 25K Kolkata, the previous year (2017), just a few weeks before her record run in RAK. The TSW 25K Kolkata is credited with holding the standalone world bests for the distance as of date. Kenya’s Daniel Ebenyo (1:11:13) and Ethiopia’s Sutume Asefa (1:18:47) have held these records since 2023.
The Vedanta Delhi Half Marathon has always drawn world-class runners, and they have delivered noteworthy performances in both the men’s and women’s sections. Yalemzerf Yehualaw, the winner of the 2020 edition, clocked 1:04:46, a time that placed her second in that year’s ranking.
In 2017, the men’s runner-up in Delhi, Andamlak Belihu (59:51), topped the World Under-20 list for the season. Similarly, Melal Siyoum, the 2025 second-placed athlete in the women’s section, has ranked second in the year’s Under-20 lists. Hence, Alemu’s Delhi mark was in line with expectations. Alemu said she expects to run marathons in the years to come.
