Last week, two runners set new American records in the half marathon in Houston – Conner Mantz and Weini Kelati.
This was hyped up. When the Houston Marathon Committee announced the professional field for the race, they called out both Kelati and Mantz as contenders. Although Kelati only made a vague reference to “hop[ing] this year’s race will be even better.”
For Mantz, the announcement specifically claimed that “[t]he men’s race will also see an attempt to finally topple the American half marathon record of 59:43 set here by Ryan Hall in 2007.”
The history of these two records stands in stark contrast. The men’s record – set at Houston back in 2007 – has been virtually unchallenged for years. The previous women’s record, set at Houston in 2023, was the product of continuous improvement – as American women continue to push the envelope and, one might argue, compete at a higher level than the men.
Yesterday, I wrote up a quick analysis of what story the data tells about the Houston Marathon. Today, I want to use some data to tell a story about these new records – a tale of two records.
The History of the Men’s American Record in the Half Marathon
The history of the modern men’s American record in the half marathon begins and ends in Houston.
Ryan Hall set the record there in 2007, finishing in 59:43. This was a time before super shoes, and at the time, the world record in the event was only 59:07 (Paul Malakwen Kosgei, Berlin, 2006). He also smashed a record set more than twenty years before in 1985.
Since then, despite the world record improving to 57:30 (Yomif Kejelcha, Valencia, 2024), American men have hardly sniffed at Hall’s record. In the visual below, you can see the five best times, per year, by American men int he half marathon. The data comes from World Athletics’ toplist of performances per season.
The four red dots show the only four performances – in the last twenty years – beneath one hour.
Ryan Hall finished in 59:43 in 2007. It wasn’t until ten years later – 2017 – that Leonard Korir finished in 59:52 at the New Delhi Half Marathon. Galen Rupp finished in 59:47 the following year at Ostia.
Another four men finished between 1:01 and 1:00 in that same time period. Otherwise, the vast majority of the top performances were above 1:01.
Since COVID, things have improved slightly. From 2021 to 2025 – ignoring Mantz time for a second – there were an extra 9 men who finished beneath 1:01. One of them was Mantz, back in 2021. Four of them were at Houston, this year.
But despite the American men upping the ante in the last few years, Mantz performance this weekend still sits far above the rest. He finished in 59:17 – almost 30 seconds ahead of Ryan Hall’s time. The next American, Hillary Bor, was more than a minute behind him. That time was good for the seventh best all time by an American man.
In the last two years, there have been quite a few men to finish beneath 1:01, so perhaps someone else will get beneath 1:00. But none of them have come even close to the 59:17 record Mantz set.
The more exciting question is probably how far Mantz can go in the full marathon. He certainly has some room to improve on his own personal best (2:07:47 at Chicago), and Abbabiya Simbassa just ran a 2:06:53 in Valencia. Along with Clayton Young, there’s plenty of talent in the mix to raise the bar over the next few years.
Despite his dominance over the American men’s field, though, that mark is only #182 on the all time list for men around the world – and almost two minutes off the world record.
The History of the Women’s American Record in the Half Marathon
If the history of the men’s record is one of a breakout performance that went unchallenged for a generation … the women’s record is the story of intense competition and year over year improvement.
Like Ryan Hall’s 2007 record, the women’s American half marathon record from the mid 2000’s came after a generation of stagnation. Deena Kastor came on the scene and set the record in 2005 and improved on it in 2006. Prior to her, the standing national record was from 1984.
The visual below shows the top times since Kastor’s 2006 record of 1:07:34 – set at Berlin.
Although her record would stand until 2018, it was challenged several times.
In 2009, Kara Goucher ran 1:08:05 in Chicago, and in 2016, Molly Huddle missed the mark by a mere three seconds at New York. Several other women finished under 1:09.
In 2018, Huddle managed those last few seconds – and she set a new record in Houston in 1:07:25. That set off a virtual arms race.
In the next two years, Emily Sisson just missed the mark – running 1:07:30 in Houston (2019) and 1:07:26 in Valencia (2020).
In 2022, Sara Hall set a new record at Houston – 1:07:15. But that would only last a few months before Sisson finally earned the title with a 1:07:11 finish at the US Championships in Indy.
The next year, Sisson set her own record at Houston – 1:06:52. And that only lasted six months before Keira D’Amato bested that mark at the Gold Coast Half Marathon.
And then, along came Weini Kelati. Last year, she improved the record to 1:06:25 – a 27 second bump. And this year, she shaved off another 16 seconds. In both cases, she was more than a minute ahead of the competition.
With D’Amato, Hall, and Huddle moving on the greener pastures as Masters runners, and with Sisson at the tale end of her professional career, Kelati is the new dominant runner at the half marathon distance.
Although she is several minutes off the current world record – am amazing 1:02:52 – she’s #124 on the all time best list. And just a ten second improvement would put her in the top 100.
The big question, though, is where we go from here. Is this generation of American women going to have the same depth and intense competition that the last one did?
Who Do You Think Will Challenge Mantz and Kelati?
So what comes next?
At this point, they each seem to sit at the top of the American field of half marathon runners. Does Kelati come back to Houston and improve on her own record a third time? Does Mantz knock his time down again?
Or do these records stagnate for years to come?
Either way, it seems like there are exciting things ahead in the next few years. The American women have had some great contenders in the last ten years, but that generation is moving on and younger women like Kelati are claiming the torch.
And on the men’s side, things have been a bit lackluster for the better part of a generation. This year has been a refreshing spark from Mantz and Clayton Young, though, and things are looking up.
What do you think is in the cards to come?