Joshua Cheptegei

Last updated

Joshua Cheptegei
Joshua Cheptegei at Oregon 2022 (cropped).jpg
Personal information
Full nameJoshua Kiprui Cheptegei
Born (1996-09-12) 12 September 1996 (age 27)
Kapsewui, Kapchorwa District, [1] Uganda
Height1.83 m (6 ft 0 in) [2]
Weight61 kg (134 lb) [3]
Sport
Country Uganda
Sport Athletics
Event Long-distance running
Team NN Running Team
Coached byAddy Ruiter [1]
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals
  • 2016 Rio de Janeiro
  • 10,000 m, 6th
  • 5000 m, 8th
  • 2020 Tokyo
  • 10,000 m, Silver medal icon.svg Silver
  • 5000 m, Gold medal icon.svg Gold
  • 2024 Paris
  • 10,000 m, Gold medal icon.svg Gold
World finals
  • 2015 Beijing
  • 10,000 m, 9th
  • 2017 London
  • 10,000 m, Silver medal icon.svg Silver
  • 2019 Doha
  • 10,000 m, Gold medal icon.svg Gold
  • 2022 Eugene
  • 10,000 m, Gold medal icon.svg Gold
  • 5000 m, 9th
  • 2024 Paris Mens
  • 10,000 m, Gold medal icon.svg Gold
  • 2023 Budapest
  • 10,000 m, Gold medal icon.svg Gold
Highest world ranking1st (10,000 m, 2023) [4]
Personal bests

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 holds the world best time over the 15 kilometres distance.

Contents

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]

Early life

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]

Career

2015–2019: Career beginnings

Cheptegei (L in yellow) races the 5000 m at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where he finished eighth. Spc. Paul Chelimo wins silver medal in 5,000 meters at Rio Olympic Games photos by Tim Hipps, IMCOM Public Affairs (29090428856).jpg
Cheptegei (L in yellow) races the 5000 m at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where he finished eighth.

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]

2019–2020: World records

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. Bekele 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]

2021–present: Olympic medals

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]

Achievements

Cheptegei (C) with his gold for the 10,000 m at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene. 10000m men medallists Oregon 2022.jpg
Cheptegei (C) with his gold for the 10,000 m at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene.

International competitions

Representing Flag of Uganda.svg  Uganda
YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventTime
2014 World Junior Championships Eugene, United States4th5000 m 13:32.84 [35]
1st10,000 m 28:32.86 [36]
African Championships Marrakech, Morocco10,000 m DNF [37]
2015 African Junior Championships Addis Ababa, Ethiopia1st10,000 m 29:58.70 [38]
World Championships Beijing, China9th10,000 m 27:48.89 [10]
2016 Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro, Brazil8th5000 m 13:09.17 [11]
6th10,000 m 27:10.06 SB [12]
2017 World Cross Country Championships Kampala, Uganda30thSenior race 30:08 [39]
World Championships London, United Kingdom2nd10,000 m 26:49.94 SB [40]
2018 Commonwealth Games Gold Coast, Australia1st5000 m 13:50.83 SB [41]
1st10,000 m 27:19.62 GR [42]
2019 World Cross Country Championships Aarhus, Denmark1stSenior race 31:40 [43]
1stSenior team20 pts
World Championships Doha, Qatar1st10,000 m 26:48.36 WL [44]
2021 Olympic Games Tokyo, Japan1st5,000 m 12:58.15
2nd10,000 m 27:43.63
2022 World Championships Eugene, United States9th5,000 m 13:13.12
1st10,000 m 27:27.43
2023 World Cross Country Championships Bathurst, Australia3rdSenior race 29:37
3rdTeam 37 pts
World Championships Budapest, Hungary1st10,000 m 27:51.42
2024 Olympic Games Paris, France1st10,000 m 26:43.14 OR

Circuit wins and titles

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">10,000 metres</span> Common long distance running event

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 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">5000 metres</span> Long-distance track running event

The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to 3 miles 188 yards or 16,404 feet 2 inches. It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over 12+12 laps of a standard track. The same distance in road running is called a 5K run; referring to the distance in metres rather than kilometres serves to disambiguate the two events. The 5000 m has been present on the Olympic programme since 1912 for men and since 1996 for women. Prior to 1996, women had competed in an Olympic 3000 metres race since 1984. The 5000 m has been held at each of the World Championships in Athletics in men's competition and since 1995 in women's.

The official world records in the 5000 metres, or 5000-metre run, are held by Joshua Cheptegei with 12:35.36 for men and Gudaf Tsegay with 14:00.21 for women.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">10,000 metres at the Olympics</span>

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uganda at the 2016 Summer Olympics</span> Sporting event delegation

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yomif Kejelcha</span> Ethiopian long-distance runner

Yomif Kejelcha Atomsa is an Ethiopian distance runner. He won the silver medal in the 10,000 metres at the 2019 World Athletics Championships and gold medals for the 3000 metres at the 2016 and 2018 World Indoor Championships. Kejelcha is the world indoor record holder for the mile with a time of 3:47.01, set on 3 March 2019 in Boston.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jacob Kiplimo</span> Ugandan long-distance runner (born 2000)

Jacob Kiplimo is a Ugandan long-distance runner who is the current world record holder in the half marathon. 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.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Letesenbet Gidey</span> Ethiopian long-distance runner (born 1998)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Selemon Barega</span> Ethiopian long-distance runner (born 2000)

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. Barega 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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stephen Kissa</span> Ugandan long-distance runner

Stephen Kissa is a Ugandan long-distance runner who specializes in the 5000 metres.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rhonex Kipruto</span> Kenyan long-distance runner

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's 5000 metres</span> Olympic athletics event

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's 10,000 metres</span> Olympic athletics event

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Berihu Aregawi</span> Ethiopian athlete

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.

The men's 10,000 metres at the 2022 World Athletics Championships was held at the Hayward Field in Eugene on 17 July 2022.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Joshua Cheptegei Archived 19 November 2018 at the Wayback Machine . GC2018. Retrieved 11 April 2018.
  2. "CHEPTEGEI Joshua". Paris 2024 Olympics . Retrieved 3 August 2024.
  3. "Tilastopaja Oy Track and field statistics | Joshua Cheptegei". Tilastopaja.eu. Archived from the original on 30 November 2023. Retrieved 13 April 2024.
  4. "World Rankings | Men's 10,000m (10km)".
  5. "Men's 10,000m Final Results". olympics.com. 2 August 2024.
  6. "Joshua Cheptegei Clocks new 10000m World Record with 26:11.02 | Watch Athletics". www.watchathletics.com. Retrieved 10 October 2020.
  7. "Joshua Kiprui Cheptegei". IAAF. 23 August 2015. Archived from the original on 25 August 2015. Retrieved 23 August 2015.
  8. "Police Consider Promoting Medalist Cheptegei, Colleagues after Winning Gold". kampalapost.com. 9 April 2018. Archived from the original on 15 April 2018. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
  9. 1 2 Reinsch, Michael (17 August 2020). "Virtuelles Duell und Fake-Applaus". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
  10. 1 2 "10,000 Metres Men - Final" (PDF). IAAF. 22 August 2015. Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 October 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  11. 1 2 "5,000 Metres men". IAAF. 20 August 2016. Archived from the original on 20 August 2020. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  12. 1 2 "Report: men's 10,000m final – Rio 2016 Olympic Games". IAAF. 14 August 2016. Archived from the original on 15 August 2016. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  13. "10,000 Metres men". IAAF. 4 August 2017. Archived from the original on 5 August 2017. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
  14. "Athletics official results" (PDF). Goald Coast 2018. pp. 45, 49. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 July 2020. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  15. Krol, Maarten & van Hemert, Wim (20 April 2019). Zevenheuvelenloop 15 km Archived 18 December 2018 at the Wayback Machine . Association of Road Racing Statisticians. Retrieved on 20 April 2019.
  16. "Road round-up: Cheptegei clocks 15km world best in Nijmegen, Melese breaks Shanghai Marathon course record| News | iaaf.org". iaaf.org. Archived from the original on 22 November 2018. Retrieved 28 April 2019.
  17. "Kiplimo and Gebrzihair break course records in Ras Al Khaimah | REPORTS | World Athletics". www.worldathletics.org. Retrieved 19 February 2022.
  18. "men senior final | iaaf.org". iaaf.org. Archived from the original on 31 March 2019. Retrieved 28 April 2019.
  19. "Joshua Cheptegei breaks 10km road world record in Valencia". 1 December 2019. Archived from the original on 2 December 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  20. "Kipruto breaks world 10km record in Valencia". World Athletics. 12 January 2020.
  21. "Joshua Cheptegei smashes 5km road world record in Monaco". BBC Sport. 16 February 2020. Archived from the original on 18 February 2020. Retrieved 16 February 2020.
  22. "Ugandan athlete Joshua Cheptegei aims to return with a world record". BBC Sport. 13 August 2020. Archived from the original on 13 August 2020. Retrieved 13 August 2020.
  23. "Cheptegei smashes 5,000 metres world record at Monaco Diamond League". Eurosport. 14 August 2020. Archived from the original on 20 August 2020. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  24. "Diamond League Monaco: Joshua Cheptegei breaks 5,000m world record". BBC Sport. 14 August 2020. Archived from the original on 14 August 2020. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  25. "Joshua Cheptegei smashes 10,000m world record as Letesenbet Gidey sets new women's 5,000m best". BBC Sport. Retrieved 8 October 2020.
  26. "Tokyo Olympics: Uganda and Kenya win golds in athletics as Egypt claim karate bronze". BBC Sport. 6 August 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
  27. "Joshua Cheptegei Wins World Athletics 10,000-Meter Championship". Runners World. 17 July 2022. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
  28. "Kiplimo succeeds compatriot Cheptegei as world cross-country champion in Bathurst". World Athletics. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
  29. "Cheptegei wins third successive 10,000m gold". Rueters. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
  30. "Joshua Cheptegei Struggles On Marathon Debut in Valencia". Sports Nation. 3 December 2023. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
  31. "Cheptegei holds off Ethiopian trio to win Olympic 10,000m gold". France24. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
  32. "Tactical masterclass from Joshua Cheptegei as he wins 10,000m gold in Paris". Athletics Weekly. Retrieved 2 August 2024.
  33. https://www.flotrack.org/articles/12767357-report-joshua-cheptegei-jacob-kiplimo-to-withdraw-from-olympic-5000m
  34. https://swiftsportsug.com/2024/08/03/cheptegei-to-retire-from-track-and-field-athletics-after-paris-olympics/#
  35. 5000 Metres men – Results Archived 20 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine . IAAF. 25 July 2014.
  36. 10,000 Metres men – Results Archived 20 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine . IAAF. 22 July 2014.
  37. "10,000 Metres men – Results" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 14 August 2020.
  38. CAA 12th African Junior Athletics Championships – Results Archived 16 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine , p. 39.
  39. Results - IAAF World Cross Country Championships 2016 - Kampala, (Uganda) 26 MAR 2017 - Senior Race - men, IAAF, 26 March 2017, archived from the original on 4 May 2019, retrieved 15 August 2020
  40. "10,000 Metres Men − Final − Results" (PDF). IAAF . Archived (PDF) from the original on 9 August 2017. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  41. "Athletics official results" (PDF). Goald Coast 2018. p. 45. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 July 2020. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  42. "Athletics official results" (PDF). Goald Coast 2018. p. 49. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 July 2020. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  43. "SENIOR RACE MEN - IAAF WORLD CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS AARHUS 2019". 30 March 2019. Archived from the original on 31 May 2019. Retrieved 15 August 2020.
  44. 10,000 Metres men - Results Archived 7 October 2019 at the Wayback Machine .
  45. "Wanda Diamond League Final | Brussels (BEL) | 5th-6th Sept 2019" (PDF). Diamond League . 6 September 2019. p. 1. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
Records
Preceded by Men's 5000 m World Record Holder
14 August 2020 –
Succeeded by
Incumbent
Preceded by Men's 10,000 m World Record Holder
7 October 2020 –
Succeeded by
Incumbent