By Website Writer; Joshua Cheptegei retained the IAAF World Athletics Championships Gold medal of the men’s world 10,000m in Eugene, Oregon in the United States on Sunday, July 17, 2022.
He was defending the title that he won in 2020 in Valencia, Spain by setting a world record time of 26:11.00 in the 10,000 metres, which again improved on Kenenisa Bekele’s 15-year-old best by more than 6 seconds.
At Hawyard Field, Joshua clocked a winning time of 27min 27.43sec, Kenya’s Stanley Waithaka Mburu (27:27.90), with another Ugandan, Jacob Kiplimo, taking (27:27.97) in an unsually close finish.
His fellow Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo settled for Bronze whereas Kenyan Stanley Mburu scooped a Silver prize.
“I did not aim to run really fast because of the heat, the sun was very strong. The conditions were kind of challenging. You just have to enjoy the race and see how it is going. Then it was going good,” Joshua Cheptegei said.
It’s not a done mission for the back-to-back 10000m world champion as he will be representing again in the 5000m heats on Thursday, July 21, 2022 before the finals on Sunday, July 24, 2022 morning at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.
Oscar Chelimo and Peter Maru will be the other Ugandans in the race.
Its understandably that only two runners; Britain’s Mo Farah (twice) and Kenenisa Bekele of Ethiopia have achieved to do the ‘distance-double’ at the same World Championships.
However, several have done it at the Olympics, including that pair (Mo Farah and Bekele), Cheptegei has admired all his life.
Cheptegei is the tenth man in history to hold the 5,000 m and 10,000 m world records concurrently, both set in 2020.
A glimpse at the 10,000M victory moments last Sunday:
Sit back and follow us for more updates!
