Gidey completed the Valencia Half Marathon in a sensational time of 1 hour 2min 52sec, taking more than a minute off the previous record of 1:04:02 set by world marathon champion Ruth Chepng'etich of Kenya earlier this year.

Subject to ratification by World Athletics, it will be Gidey’s third world record to go alongside the leading marks she holds for the 5,000 metres and 10,000m.

"I’m so happy to break the world record in my first half marathon and my first race for the NN Running Team," said Gidey.

Gidey went through 5 kilometres in a swift 15:00, with her compatriot Yalemzerf Yehualaw running five metres down.

Yehualaw in August clocked 1:03:44 in Larne in Northern Ireland but it could not be ratified as a world record due to the course being too short.

While Yehualaw drifted further back, Gidey reached 10km in 29:45 - the third-fastest clocking in history for the distance and just seven seconds shy of the world record set just a few weeks ago by Kalkidan Gezahegne of Bahrain.

Gidey covered the next 5km segment in 14:44, bringing her to 15km in 44:29 and putting her more than a minute inside world-record schedule.

Although her pace dropped slightly in the last quarter of the race, Gidey had done more than enough to ensure victory in a world record.

In the men’s race, Abel Kipchumba overtook fellow Kenyan Rhonex Kipruto in the closing stages to win in 58:07.

The victory moves him to sixth on the world all-time list as he improved on his own world-leading mark from Herzogenaurach in Germany last month.

Kipruto was second in 58:09 ahead of another Kenyan in Daniel Mateiko who clocked 58:26 as the top seven men finished inside 59 minutes.