Joshua Cheptegei

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 held the world best time over the 15 kilometres distance.

Joshua Cheptegei

Cheptegei at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene
Personal information
Full name	Joshua Kiprui Cheptegei
Born	(1996-09-12) 12 September 1996 (age 28) Kapsewui, Kapchorwa District,[1] Uganda
Height	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)[2]
Weight	61 kg (134 lb)[3]
Sport
Country	Uganda
Sport	Athletics
Event	Long-distance running
Team	NN Running Team
Coached by	Addy Ruiter[1]
Achievements and titles
Olympic finals	2016 Rio de Janeiro 10,000 m, 6th 5000 m, 8th 2020 Tokyo 10,000 m,  Silver 5000 m,  Gold 2024 Paris 10,000 m,  Gold
World finals	2015 Beijing 10,000 m, 9th 2017 London 10,000 m,  Silver 2019 Doha 10,000 m,  Gold 2022 Eugene 10,000 m,  Gold 5000 m, 9th 2023 Budapest 10,000 m,  Gold
Highest world ranking	1st (10,000 m, 2023)[4]
Personal bests	1500 m: 3:37.36 (Kampala 2021) 3000 m: 7:33.24 (Ostrava 2021) 2 miles: 8:07.54 NB (Stanford 2019) 5000 m: 12:35.36 WR (Monaco 2020) 10,000 m: 26:11.00 WR (Valencia 2020) Road 5 km: 12:51 NR (Monaco 2020) 10 km: 26:38 NR (Valencia 2019) 15 km: 41:05 (Nijmegen 2018) Half Marathon: 59:21 (Gdynia 2020) Marathon: 2:05:59 (Tokyo 2025)
Medal record Men's athletics Representing  Uganda Olympic Games 2020 Tokyo 5000 m 2024 Paris 10,000 m 2020 Tokyo 10,000 m World Championships 2019 Doha 10,000 m 2022 Eugene 10,000 m 2023 Budapest 10,000 m 2017 London 10,000 m Diamond League 2019 5000 m Commonwealth Games 2018 Gold Coast 5000 m 2018 Gold Coast 10,000 m World Junior Championships 2014 Eugene 10,000 m World Cross Country Championships 2019 Aarhus Senior race 2019 Aarhus Senior team 2023 Bathurst Senior race

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

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.

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. Kenenisa 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.

International competitions

Representing  Uganda

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Time
2014	World Junior Championships	Eugene, United States	4th	5000 m	13:32.84[35]
			1st	10,000 m	28:32.86[36]
	African Championships	Marrakech, Morocco	–	10,000 m	DNF[37]
2015	African Junior Championships	Addis Ababa, Ethiopia	1st	10,000 m	29:58.70[38]
	World Championships	Beijing, China	9th	10,000 m	27:48.89[10]
2016	Olympic Games	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	8th	5000 m	13:09.17[11]
			6th	10,000 m	27:10.06 SB[12]
2017	World Cross Country Championships	Kampala, Uganda	30th	Senior race	30:08[39]
	World Championships	London, United Kingdom	2nd	10,000 m	26:49.94 SB[40]
2018	Commonwealth Games	Gold Coast, Australia	1st	5000 m	13:50.83 SB[41]
			1st	10,000 m	27:19.62 GR[42]
2019	World Cross Country Championships	Aarhus, Denmark	1st	Senior race	31:40[43]
			1st	Senior team	20 pts
	World Championships	Doha, Qatar	1st	10,000 m	26:48.36 WL[44]
2021	Olympic Games	Tokyo, Japan	1st	5,000 m	12:58.15
			2nd	10,000 m	27:43.63
2022	World Championships	Eugene, United States	9th	5,000 m	13:13.12
			1st	10,000 m	27:27.43
2023	World Cross Country Championships	Bathurst, Australia	3rd	Senior race	29:37
			3rd	Team	37 pts
	World Championships	Budapest, Hungary	1st	10,000 m	27:51.42
2024	Olympic Games	Paris, France	1st	10,000 m	26:43.14 OR

Circuit wins and titles

• Diamond League 5000 metres champion: 2019^[45]
  • 2019: Eugene Prefontaine Classic in Stanford (Two miles, WL PB), Zürich Weltklasse (5000 m, PB)
  • 2020: Monaco Herculis (5000 m, WR)
  • 2021: Eugene (Two miles)
  • 2022: Eugene (5000 m)

Community activism

Joshua Cheptegei collaborated with the UNDP to participate in the Elgon half marathon together with other community activists, some of which included Lanie Banks with the aims of protecting the environment, keeping girls in school and ending Gender-based Violence. He urged fellow athletes to help the needy.^[46][47][48]

See also

• Stephen Kiprotich.
• Moses Ndiema Kipsiro.
• Lanie Banks.
• Kapchora District.
• Jacob Kiplimo.
• Selemon Barega.
• Athletics at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Men's 10,000 metres