On Sunday evening, Uganda’s flag was raised high as the country’s long-distance runner Joshua Cheptegei made history after winning the World Championship 10,000m title for the third time consecutively in a fantastic fashion in Budapest,Hungary.
As in Oregon last year, and as in Doha in 2019, there was nothing that could stop Joshua Cheptegei from delivering a devastating last lap to win the race.
The Olympic champion has had a great career and has made a series of records that have seen him to the level of all-time greats. Cheptegei comes from a humble family and he was born on 12 September 1996 in Kapsewui, Kapchorwa District. He is a serving Police officer in Uganda Police Force.
Before discovering his destiny, Cheptegei first played football in Primary School and also tried out the long jump and triple jump, but he switched to running when he discovered his talent in distance running.
Cheptegei who is 26 years now began his international challenges at the age of 18 in 2014 when he represented Uganda in the World Junior Championship which was organized in the state of Oregon.
In 2015, he competed in the 10,000 metres at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, finishing ninth. In 2016 he ran at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres, finishing eighth and sixth respectively.
In 2017, he represented Uganda in 10,000 meters World Championships in London where became a silver medalist.
In 2019 Cheptegei won 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.
Cheptegei has set a number of records such as;
On 1 December 2019, he 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.
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. However, his 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.
On 13 August 2020, 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 for the longest duration in the history of the event by almost 2 seconds. His splits were 2:31.87; 5:03.77; 7:35.14 and 10:05.46.
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.
Cheptegei Uganda’s undisputed long-distance runner is the reigning Olympic champion in the 5000 metres and silver medalist for the 10,000 metres, a three-time 10,000 m World champion from 2019, 2022 and 2023.
He is a World silver medalist from 2017, and the 2019 World Cross Country champion. Cheptegei also won gold medals for the 5000 m and 10,000 m at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. He is the world record holder for both these disciplines and holds also the world best in the 15 kilometres road race.
Cheptegei is the tenth man in world athletic history to hold the 5,000 m and 10,000 m world records concurrently, both set in 2020.
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