Joshua Kiprui Cheptegei (born 12 September 1996) is a Ugandan long-distance runner. He is the reigning

Olympic champion This article includes lists of all Olympic medalists since 1896, organized by each Olympic sport or discipline, and also by Olympiad. Medalist with most medals by sport Summer Olympic sports Winter Olympic sports A. Including military patrol e ...

in the 5000 metres and silver medalist for the

10,000 metres The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship level events. The ra ...

, a two-time 10,000 m

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from

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and

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, World silver medallist from

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, and the 2019 World Cross Country champion. Cheptegei won also gold medals for the 5000 m and 10,000 m at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. He currently holds

world records A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

in both disciplines, and holds world best in the 15 kilometres road race. He is also the current Ugandan record holder in both the 5 km and 10 km. Cheptegei is the tenth man in history to hold the 5,000 m and 10,000 m world records concurrently, both set in 2020. In 2018, he set a world record in the 15 km. Two years later, at a road race in Monaco, he set a previous world road 5 km record of 12:51, breaking through the event's 13-minute barrier, and taking 9 seconds from the previous best, set by Kenya's Sammy Kipketer in 2000. In August 2020, at the

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Diamond League meet, he set a new 5000 m world record of 12:35.36, breaking

Kenenisa Bekele Kenenisa Bekele ( om, Qananiisaa baqqalaa; am, ቀነኒሳ በቀለ; born 13 June 1982) is an Ethiopian long-distance runner. He was the world record holder in both the 5000-metre and 10000-metre from 2004 (5,000m) and 2005 (10,000m) unti ...

's 16-year-old world record of 12:37.35 set in

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. On 7 October 2020, in

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, he set 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.

Early life

Joshua Cheptegei was born on 12 September 1996 in Kapsewui,

Kapchorwa District Kapchorwa District is a district in the Eastern Region of Uganda. The town of Kapchorwa is the district's main municipal, administrative, and commercial center, and is the site of the district headquarters. It is also the home district of Step ...

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...

. In primary school, Cheptegei first played football and tried out

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a ...

and

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...

, but switched to running when he discovered his talent in distance running. Cheptegei studied languages and literature in

Kampala Kampala (, ) is the capital and largest city of Uganda. The city proper has a population of 1,680,000 and is divided into the five political divisions of Kampala Central Division, Kawempe Division, Makindye Division, Nakawa Division, and Ruba ...

for two years and is employed by the

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. His coach is Addy Ruiter. In the timeframe from March to May 2020, he reduced his weekly training sessions from 12 to 8.

Career

He is a silver medallist in the

at the 2017 World Championships in

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. He also competed in the 10,000 metres at the 2015 World Championships in

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, finishing ninth. He ran at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres, finishing eighth and sixth respectively. Cheptegei was the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres champion at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. He won silver in the 10,000 metres and gold in the

5,000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a stan ...

at the

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. Cheptegei is a four-time winner of the Zevenheuvelenloop 15 km road race in Nijmegen, Netherlands. In 2018 Cheptegei set the world record for a 15 km road race. Abrar Osman finished second with 42:34 and the 2017 5000 m world champion Muktar Edris placed third with 42:56. On 19 February 2022 the record was broken by Cheptegei's compatriot

Jacob Kiplimo Jacob Kiplimo (born 14 November 2000) is a Ugandan long-distance runner. He is 2020 Tokyo Olympic 10,000 metres bronze medallist and also won bronze in the event at the 2022 World Athletics Championships. Kiplimo earned gold medals in the 5000 m ...

, who ran a 15km split of 40:43 min at the

Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon is an annual half marathon held in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. History The first event, in 2007, saw Samuel Wanjiru breaking the world record, but Wanjiru himself set a new world record only a month later in ...

. Cheptegei was the winner of the senior men's race at the 2019

IAAF World Cross Country Championships World Athletics Cross Country Championships is the most important competition in international cross country running. Formerly held annually and organised by World Athletics (formerly the IAAF), it was inaugurated in 1973, when it replaced the Int ...

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.

World records

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. 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. 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 2 years until broken by Berihu Aregawi, who ran 12:49 at the Cursa dels Nassos meet in

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on December 31, 2021. On 13 August 2020, a day before the Herculis meet of the Diamond League in

, 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. 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

's 16-year-old record – 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. Bekele congratulated Cheptegei from Addis Ababa. On 7 October 2020, in Valencia, he set a world record time of 26:11.00 in the 10000 metres, which improved on

's 15-year-old record by more than 6 seconds.

International competitions

Circuit wins and titles

* Diamond League champion 5000 metres: Diamond blue

: Eugene Prefontaine Classic in Stanford (Two miles, ), Zürich Weltklasse (5000 m, PB) **

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

: Monaco Herculis (5000 m, ) **

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: Eugene (Two miles) **

: Eugene (5000 m)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Cheptegei, Joshua Kiprui 1996 births Living people People from Kapchorwa District Ugandan male long-distance runners Ugandan male cross country runners Olympic male long-distance runners Olympic athletes of Uganda Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for Uganda World Athletics Championships medalists World Athletics Championships winners Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Uganda Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Diamond League winners Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic silver medalists for Uganda Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic gold medalists for Uganda 20th-century Ugandan people 21st-century Ugandan people World Athletics record holders