SOUTH Africa’s Elana Meyer became the first woman in the world to break the 67-minute mark for the half marathon as she clinched victory at the Tokyo City 21,1km on Friday morning. The Stellenbosch athlete set a world record at 66min 44sec in freezing 5 degrees Celsius conditions, beating Kenya’s Ester Winjiro by five seconds. This bettered Meyer’s personal record for the half marathon of 67min 29sec. “I am thrilled, absolutely thrilled,” said Meyer from Tokyo on Friday. “I knew I was in good shape coming here, but I didn’t expect to break the record.”