Paris Olympics: Uganda’s Cheptegei Wins First Ever 10,000m Olympic Gold
Two-time World record holder and Uganda’s iconic long distance runner Joshua Cheptegei has finally won Uganda’s first gold medal at the 2024 Olympic games in Paris, France.
Cheptegei wrote history on Friday August 2, when he stroke his first ever Olympics gold medal after many attempts in the men’s 10,000 meters.
He triumphed in the toe-for-toe clash setting an Olympic record time of 26:43.14. Cheptegei was 30 microseconds faster than Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi who came second on 26:43.44 while Grant Fischer (United States) was third on 26:43.46.
His triumph dethroned Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele’s previous record of 27:01.17, set at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Another pre-event favourite Jacob Kiplimo finished in the eighth place. He had secured bronze in the 10,000m at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
Martin Kiprotich, the other Ugandan in the race, posted his personal best of 28:20.72 despite finishing 22nd.
The 10,000m gold has been the only missing piece in Cheptegei’s impressive list of accolades. He had previously won gold in the 5,000m at the Tokyo Olympics but settled for silver in the 10,000m when he was stunned by Ethiopia’s Selemon Barega.
Cheptegei, the World Record holder in both the 10,000m and 5,000m, has also claimed the 10,000m gold three times consecutively at the World Championships.
Cheptegei is now 100 million Ugandan shillings richer, a financial incentive that was staked by the government for any Gold medalist at the Olympics.
By Chimpreports
