Habtom Samuel runs 59:01 in his half marathon debut as four Americans break 60
A course record for the NCAA cross country champion, 59:23 for Alex Maier, a Canadian record for Rory Linkletter and 66:20 for Taylor Roe in Houston.
Photograph: Rory Linkletter at mile 25 of the 2025 Chicago Marathon, by Photoguy1212, CC0, via Wikimedia CommonsHabtom Samuel had never raced a half marathon before Sunday. The Eritrean, a University of New Mexico student and the reigning NCAA cross country champion, won the Aramco Houston Half Marathon in 59:01, a course record, beating the 59:17 set here in 2025. Kenya's Patrick Kiprop was second in 59:14.
Alex Maier was fourth in 59:23, a personal best and one of four American men under 60 minutes on the day. Rory Linkletter finished seventh in 59:49, the first Canadian man ever under an hour for the distance. Cam Levins had held the Canadian record at 1:00:18 since 2024; he ran 1:00:58 in the same race.
Ethiopia swept the women's podium. Fentaye Belayneh won in 1:04:49, three seconds ahead of Tsigie Gebreselama, with Buze Diriba third in 1:05:57. Taylor Roe was fourth and first American in 1:06:20, a personal best.
The marathon on the same course saw its own record, 2:05:45 by Zouhair Talbi.
Houston keeps producing the same morning: a flat loop and a dozen people running the best half of their lives at once. The number that sticks this year is not the winner's. It is four Americans under 60 in one race, and a Canadian who had never been close doing it too.
Sources: Chevron Houston Marathon; Athletics Weekly; Athletics Illustrated; Running USA.
