Ethiopia's Buze Diriba Kejela rewrote the Pittsburgh Half Marathon record book on Sunday, crossing the line on the Strip District in 1:08:39 to take more than two minutes off the previous women's course best. Morocco's Mohammed El Youssfi shadowed her work in the men's race, winning his first Pittsburgh title in 1:01:44 ahead of a tightly grouped chase pack on a cool, settled morning by the Allegheny.
Kejela, the former Boston Marathon top-ten finisher, ran with an 11-strong elite group through 5km in 16:18 before opening up a deliberate gap on Smithfield Street Bridge. From there she ran alone, hitting 10km in 32:40 and the long downhill on Smallman Street with a clear gap, eventually crossing more than ninety seconds clear of compatriot Tigist Memuye and three-peat Pittsburgh Marathon champion Jane Bareikis, who tuned up with the half before her later three-peat run on the longer course later in the morning.
El Youssfi's race, by contrast, came down to the Birmingham Bridge climb. A pack of seven men had stayed within five seconds through 15km, with Kenya's Mike Kibet and American debutant Hugh Armstrong shouldering the early work. The Moroccan pushed first up the climb to the Southside, opened a six-second gap by 19km, and held the move home through the Strip to win in a season's best. Kibet took second in 1:01:51, with Armstrong claiming the U.S. men's title in 1:02:09 in only his second outing at the distance.
The course records came on a morning the organisers had circled long in advance. The Pittsburgh Half Marathon expanded its elite invitation pool for the 2026 edition, layered in pacers tuned to a 1:08-flat finish, and lined up cooler conditions that held in the high forties for most of the elite race. Race director Troy Schooley said in the post-race press conference that the women's record had been "the priority story for two years" and credited the agents and athlete services teams who built a deeper international field around Kejela.
The half doubles as a launchpad for an unusually busy spring of road racing in Pittsburgh. More than 53,000 finishers crossed the line across the weekend's combined races, with another 300,000 spectators packed along Liberty Avenue and through the Strip, according to figures from the host organisation. Kejela said in her post-race remarks that she would target the Riga Marathon on 17 May before settling on a fall marathon, while El Youssfi confirmed plans to race the Diamond League opener week's Botswana Grand Prix workout schedule before a summer track block on the European circuit.