Personal information | |
---|---|
Full name | Joshua Kiprui Cheptegei |
Born | Kapsewui, Kapchorwa District, [1] Uganda | 12 September 1996
Height | 1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) [2] |
Weight | 61 kg (134 lb) [3] |
Sport | |
Country | Uganda |
Sport | Athletics |
Event | Long-distance running |
Team | NN Running Team |
Coached by | Addy Ruiter [1] |
Achievements and titles | |
Olympic finals |
|
World finals |
|
Highest world ranking | 1st (10,000 m, 2023) [4] |
Personal bests |
|
Medal record |
Joshua Kiprui Cheptegei (born 12 September 1996) is a Ugandan long-distance runner. He is the current world record holder for the 5000 metres and the 10,000 metres, and held the world best time over the 15 kilometres distance.
Cheptegei is the reigning Olympic champion in the 10000 m and the reigning three-time World champion in the 10,000 m. Cheptegei also won a gold medal in the 5000 m and 10,000 m at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and at the 2019 IAAF World Cross Country Championships. At the 2024 Olympic Games, Cheptegei won gold in the 10,000 metres, becoming the Olympic champion and setting a new Olympic record in the process. [5]
Cheptegei is the tenth man in history to hold the 5000 m and 10,000 m world records concurrently, both set in 2020. [6] [7]
Joshua Cheptegei was born on 12 September 1996 in Kapsewui, Kapchorwa District, Uganda. [1] In primary school, he first played football and tried out long jump and triple jump, but he switched to running when he discovered his talent in distance running. [1]
Cheptegei studied procurement and logistics management in Uganda and is employed by the Uganda National Police. [8] His coach is Addy Ruiter. In the timeframe from March to May 2020, he reduced his weekly training sessions from 12 to 8. [9]
Cheptegei competed in the 10,000 metres at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, finishing ninth. [10] He ran at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres, finishing eighth and sixth respectively. [11] [12] He is a silver medallist in the 10,000 metres at the 2017 World Championships in London. [13] Cheptegei was the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres champion at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. [14]
Cheptegei is a four-time winner of the Zevenheuvelenloop 15 km road race in Nijmegen, Netherlands. In 2018, he set the world record for a 15 km road race. [15] Abrar Osman finished second with 42:34 and the 2017 5000 m world champion Muktar Edris placed third with 42:56. [16] On 19 February 2022, the record was broken by Cheptegei's compatriot Jacob Kiplimo, who ran a 15 km split of 40:43 min at the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon. [17]
Cheptegei was the winner of the senior men's race at the 2019 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Aarhus, Denmark. He won in 31:40 on the 10.24 km course. Ugandan teammate Jacob Kiplimo finished second in 31:44, while Thomas Ayeko placed seventh and Joseph Ayeko tenth; Uganda won the team first-place title. [18]
On 1 December 2019, Cheptegei set a new 10 km road race record in Valencia, Spain. His time of 26:38 improved on the previous world record, set by Leonard Komon in 2010, by 6 seconds. [19] This mark has since been lowered to 26:24, the world record being held, as of October 2020, by Rhonex Kipruto of Kenya, who also incidentally set it in Valencia just six weeks later, on 12 January 2020. [20]
On 16 February 2020, he set a new 5 km road race world record in Monaco with a time of 12:51. The previous ratified record was 13:22, set by Robert Keter on 9 November 2019 in Lille, France, and the previous fastest time ever recorded over the distance was 13:00 set by Sammy Kipketer on 26 March 2000 in Carlsbad, USA. This record stood for nearly two years until broken by Berihu Aregawi, who ran 12:49 at the Cursa dels Nassos meet in Barcelona on 31 December 2021. [21]
On 13 August 2020, a day before the Herculis meet of the Diamond League in Monaco, Cheptegei announced that he aimed to return to the track and run his first official race in the season with a world record time in the 5000 metres, which would be more than 20 seconds faster than his personal best on a track. [22] At the meet on the next day, with the help of expert pace-making from Roy Hoornweg, Stephen Kissa, and Matthew Ramsden, he set a new world record in the 5000 metres with a time of 12:35.36, which broke Kenenisa Bekele's 16-year-old record – the longest duration in the history of the event – by almost 2 seconds. [23] [24] His splits were 2:31.87; 5:03.77; 7:35.14 and 10:05.46. Kenenisa congratulated Cheptegei from Addis Ababa. [9]
On 7 October 2020, in Valencia, he set a world record time of 26:11.00 in the 10,000 metres, which improved on Kenenisa Bekele's 15-year-old record by more than 6 seconds. [25]
Cheptegei won gold in the 5,000 metres and silver in the 10,000 metres at the 2020 Summer Olympics. [26]
At the 2022 World Athletics Championships, Cheptegei won the 10,000 metres [27] and placed ninth in the 5,000 metres.
At the 2023 World Athletics Cross Country Championships, Cheptegei placed 3rd to his countryman Jacob Kiplimo and Ethiopian Berihu Aregawi. [28] Cheptegei successfully defended his 10,000 metres title at the 2023 World Athletics Championships. [29] Later that year, he made his marathon debut at the Valencia Marathon, running 2:08:59 to place 37th. [30]
At the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, Cheptegei won gold in the 10,000 metres final, in a new Olympic record of 26:43.14. [31] The former Olympic record was Kenenisa Bekele's 27:01.17 set at the 2008 Games in Beijing. [32] Shortly after winning gold in the 10000 meter event, Cheptegei announced on Instagram that he would not be defending his 5000 meter gold medal from Tokyo, citing failure to recover from the race. [33] Cheptegei also hinted that he will not pursue another Olympic Games on the track, and instead focus more on road racing in the future. [34]
Joshua Cheptegei collaborated with the UNDP to participate in the Elgon half marathon together with other community activists, some of which included Lanie Banks with the aims of protecting the environment, keeping girls in school and ending Gender-based Violence. He urged fellow athletes to help the needy. [46] [47] [48]
Kenenisa Bekele Beyecha is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. He was the world record holder in both the 5,000-metre and 10,000-metre from 2004 until 2020. He won the gold medal in both the 5,000 m and 10,000 m events at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. At the 2004 Olympics, he won the gold medal in the 10,000 m and the silver medal in the 5,000 m.
The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship-level events. The race consists of 25 laps around an Olympic-sized 400 m track. It is less commonly held at track and field meetings due to its duration. The 10,000-metre track race is usually distinguished from its road running counterpart, the 10K run, by referring to the distance in metres rather than kilometres.
The 10,000 metres at the Summer Olympics is the longest track running event held at the multi-sport event. The men's 10,000 m has been present on the Olympic athletics programme since 1912. The women's event was added to the programme over seventy years later, at the 1988 Olympics. It is the most prestigious 10,000 m race at elite level. The competition format is a straight final between around 30 athletes, although prior to 2004 a qualifying round was held.
Uganda competed at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, from 5 to 21 August 2016. Since the nation's official debut in 1956, Ugandan athletes have appeared in every edition of the Summer Olympic Games, with the exception of the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal because of its partial support of the African boycott.
Yomif Kejelcha Atomsa is an Ethiopian distance runner. He holds the current world record in the short track mile, and the half marathon.
Aron Kifle Teklu is an Eritrean long-distance runner. He is the bronze medallist from the 2018 World Half Marathon Championships in Valencia. Aron is also the silver medallist in the 10000m from both the 2016 World U20 Championships and the 2019 All-African Games.
Jacob Kiplimo is a Ugandan long-distance runner. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympic and the 2022 World Athletics Championships, Kiplimo won a bronze medal in the 10,000 m events. Kiplimo won gold medals in the 5000 m and 10,000 m events at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, and he won a silver and gold medal at the 2019 and 2023 World Cross Country Championships, respectively. He was also the winner of the 2020 World Half Marathon, and is the former world record holder in the half marathon, which he held from 2021 to 2024 with a time of 57:31.
The 15K run is a long-distance foot race. It is a rarely held race that is not recognized as an Olympic event. The overall world best time for men was set by Jacob Kiplimo en route the Lisbon Half Marathon. Excluding en route times both the world best for men and women were set at the Zevenheuvelenloop in Nijmegen, Netherlands. The world best for men is held by Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda who ran a time of 41:05. The women's world best is held by Letesenbet Gidey of Ethiopia who ran a time of 44:20.
The men's 10,000 metres at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics was held at the London Olympic Stadium on 4 August. This was billed to be the final 10,000 metres race of two-time champion Mo Farah. Farah won the race, ahead of Joshua Cheptegei from Uganda with Paul Tanui of Kenya finishing third. The win was Farah's third consecutive World 10,000 metres title, and his fifth consecutive major 10,000 metres title.
Letesenbet Gidey is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. In the 10,000 metres, she is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic bronze medallist, 2019 World silver medallist, and 2022 World champion. Her record of 29.01.03 is the second fastest time ever, just recently broken by Kenyan rival Beatrice Chebet. Letesenbet is the first athlete ever, male or female, to hold the 5000m, 10000m, and half marathon world records, simultaneously.
Selemon Barega Shirtaga is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. He won the gold medal in the 10,000 metres at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, silver for the 5,000 metres at the 2019 World Championships in Doha and bronze in the 10,000 metres at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest. Selemon is a two-time 3,000 metres World Indoor Championship medallist, taking silver in 2018, and a gold in 2022.
Rodgers Kwemoi Chumo is a Kenyan long-distance runner specialising in the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres.
Stephen Kissa is a Ugandan long-distance runner who specializes in the 5000 metres.
Rhonex Kipruto is a Kenyan long-distance runner. Kipruto won the bronze medal in the 10,000 metres at the 2019 World Athletics Championships and was the world record holder for the 10 km road race, until he was stripped of both titles in June 2024 due to “a deliberate and sophisticated doping regime”. Prior to his result being annulled, Kipruto placed third on the half marathon world all-time list.
NN Running Team is a professional running team based in the Netherlands. It was founded in 2017 by Jos Hermens, the director of Global Sports Communication. The team's title sponsor is the Dutch insurance company NN Group. The running team includes some of the most accomplished distance runners in the world, including many Olympians. One of NN Running Team's training camps is located in Kaptagat, Kenya.
Amedework Walelegn is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. In 2016, he finished 4th in the 10,000m at the IAAF World U20 Championships in Bydgoszcz.
The men's 5000 metres event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 3 and 6 August 2021 at the Japan National Stadium. Approximately 45 athletes competed; the exact number was dependent on how many nations use universality places to enter athletes in addition to the 42 qualifying through time or ranking. The winning margin was 0.46 seconds.
The men's 10,000 metres event at the 2020 Summer Olympics took place on 30 July 2021 at the Japan National Stadium. 25 athletes competed. None of the 2016 medalists took part in the competition. Selemon Barega from Ethiopia won the event by 0.41 seconds, with Ugandans Joshua Cheptegei, the world record holder, and Jacob Kiplimo coming second and third, respectively. All of them won their first Olympic medal.
Berihu Aregawi Teklehaimanot is an Ethiopian long-distance runner and the current world record holder in the 5000 m road race and the 10,000 m road race.