Ugandan Cheptegei, sets Olympic record to win 10,000m

Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei won gold in the men’s Olympic 10,000m at the Stade de France on Friday, with an Olympic record time (26:43.14).

Cheptegei managed to overcome Ethiopia’s dominance in this discipline: Selem Barega, the reigning champion, excelled for much of the race but was unable to cope with the Ugandan’s sprint and finished seventh in 26:44.48.  

Cheptegel is a three-time world champion over the distance and world record holder, silver medallist at the Tokyo Games, Now he broke the previous record of 27:07.17 owned by Ethiopian legend Kenenisa Bekele at the 2008 Beijing Games.

He was joined on the podium by Ethiopia’s rising star Berihu Aregawi (26:43.44) and American Grant Fisher (26:43.46). Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi edged American Grant Fisher by two-hundredths of a second to take silver in 26:43.44.  Fisher’s bronze was the first for the United States in the 10,000m since 1968.

Defending champion Selemon Barega and Ethiopian teammate Yomif Kejelcha accelerated away to split the field. Later, Canada’s Mohammed Ahmed and Kenya’s Benard Kibet open their way through to Kejelcha’s

As Cheptegei and Fisher made their way up through a bunching pack, Kejelcha was again on hand to offer a spurt of acceleration. Into the last kilometre, Aregawi took up the running and just before the bell rang for the final 400 metres, Cheptegei surged to the front and the race to the line was on.

Ahmed followed, Fisher fell off the pace but made a remarkable recovery to medal. Barega was not enough and Cheptegei held on for victory in the first medal event at France’s national stadium.

After his debut Olympics at Rio 2016, Cheptegei returned to the Olympics. He had completed the distance double at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, added a 10,000m silver medal from the London 2017 World Championships, won a World Cross Country title, and earned his first world title in Doha in 2019.