Valencia does not bother pretending to be anything other than a speed test, and that is exactly why Sunday, October 25, matters. The Valencia Half Marathon 2026 is built for quick times, big statements and, if the race unfolds the way it should, one very clear headline: Yalemzerf Yehualaw is back.
Her return from maternity leave gives the women’s race its central attraction, and it is a proper one. Yehualaw is not coming back to tick a box. She is coming back to a course that has already rewarded her before, with Valencia having twice produced a half-marathon world record and a reputation that punishes hesitation. In 2021, she ran 1:03:51 here, in the same race where Letesenbet Gidey set the world record of 1:02:52. That is the sort of context that makes this more than a simple comeback.
A race that demands boldness
The women’s field is described as world-class, and the strength of it is obvious from the numbers attached to it. This is not a one-athlete showcase. It is a deep, serious race where sub-1:10 and sub-1:01 credentials belong in the same conversation. Yehualaw brings the kind of championship pedigree that makes her the natural headliner: bronze in the individual race and team gold at the World Half Marathon Championships in 2020, a London Marathon win in 2:17:26 in 2022, a fifth-place finish in the marathon at the World Championships in 2023, and a course record of 2:16:52 at the Amsterdam Marathon in 2024. She also finished third in the Boston Marathon in 2:18:06 in April 2025. That is not a resume built for caution.
And yet the real fascination is not only whether she can win. It is how quickly she can reassert herself after maternity leave in a race that does not wait for anyone. Valencia has a way of stripping away excuses. If you are sharp, it rewards you. If you are not, it exposes you. That is why this return feels significant. Yehualaw is stepping back into a setting that has already helped define elite half-marathon history, and she is doing it at the exact kind of venue that can turn a comeback into a statement.
Records, speed and a men’s race with proper bite
The men’s race has its own intriguing edge, because Rodrigue Kwizera brings 58:16 from Prague in May and now has Spanish citizenship. That matters. Carlos Mayo still owns the Spanish half-marathon record at 59:39, set in Valencia in 2023, but Kwizera is now within touching distance of making the men’s race a genuine home-interest storyline. His 58:16 sits 1:23 inside the Spanish record, which is exactly the sort of marker that gives the race a competitive pulse before it has even started.
There is also the possibility of a first Spanish winner on the men’s side, which gives the race another layer of intrigue. Valencia has never been shy about creating fast conditions, and the field is built to take advantage of that. The list of times alone tells you this is no gentle jog through a scenic course. It is a race where the clock is the real opponent.
That is why Yehualaw’s return feels so important. The women’s race is loaded, the men’s race is packed with record tension, and the course is primed for speed. But the biggest draw is the simplest one: a world-class athlete, back from maternity leave, in a race that has never been afraid to ask big questions. Sunday should provide some very direct answers.
