Joshua Cheptegi, the reigning world champion and world record holder for the 10,000 metres, is now the Olympic champion, too, winning the race in Paris in record time.
The 27-year Ugandan ran the 10,000 metres in 26:43.14 minutes in a new Olympic record, knocking 18 seconds off the previous record set by the Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele at the 2008 Beijing Games
The race at the Stade de France in Paris on Friday (August 2) was the fastest 10,000-metre run in Olympic history.
The field was unprecedentedly quick — the first 13 finishers all broke the previous Olympic record of 27:01.17 seconds as advances in shoe and track technology continued to accelerate race times.
Cheptegei, who won the 10,000-metre silver and 5,000-metre gold inTokyo, finished first with a devastating burst of speed in the last 600 metres.
“I can’t describe the feeling. I’ve wanted this for a long time. When I took silver in Tokyo 2020, I was disappointed. I just wanted to win the 10,000 metres,” Cheptegei said after the race.
🥇 5,000 metres, Tokyo 2020
🥈 10,000 metres, Tokyo 2020
🥇 10,000 metres, Paris 2024Joshua Cheptegei has now won more Olympic medals than any other Ugandan athlete in history 🇺🇬 pic.twitter.com/6v5WGewKsm
— ESPN Africa (@ESPNAfrica) August 2, 2024
Cheptegei, world champion in 2019, 2022 and 2023, was surprisingly beaten to the gold by the Ethiopian Selemon Barega in Tokyo and was desperate for revenge.
Now, with the Olympic gold under his belt, the world champion and world record holder is going out a winner.
This his last race on the track, he said; he will be going next for something longer: the marathon.
Cheptegei, world champion in 2019, 2022 and 2023, was surprisingly beaten to the gold by Ethiopian Selemon Barega in Tokyo and was desperate for revenge.
Barega, the Tokyo gold medal winner, didn’t reach the podium in Paris, finishing seventh in the race with a time of 26:44.48.
Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi took the silver medal, just 0.3 seconds behind Cheptegei, after he and his Ethiopian teammates held the lead for much of the race.
“We had a team strategy to push the pace and we showed great teamwork. I am very sad we did not achieve the gold medal as a team,” Aregawi said.
But he was thrilled he took the silver after finishing fourth in Tokyo. “I was running for my country and I want to dedicate this silver medal to my country,” he said.
Grant Fisher of the United States took the bronze medal, 0.02 seconds behind Aregawi.
“It means so much. You’ve got to be tough to win a medal. I made it today and it feels incredible,” Grant said after the race.
“The biggest stadium I’ve ever been in was Tokyo and that one was dead silent,” he added, referring to the Games in 2021, when pandemic restrictions did not allow for typical crowds.
“This was so, so different. From the first lap, the crowd was screaming. I couldn’t hear anything the entire race. The 10,000m doesn’t get a lot of love sometimes, but that crowd made it feel like we were the best show in town. It was super fun. It was a fast, fast pace. I felt like I was in a good position the whole way and just gave it everything with a lap to go.”
A pack of 13 athletes ran the last two-thirds of the race together, and remarkably, all of them finished in under 27 minutes.
Cheptegei stayed behind the leaders for much of the race but accelerated, coming around the final bend on the penultimate lap, and did not let up.
“My collection for this run is really complete. I’m so excited,” he told reporters.
“Barely 16 years ago when I was watching the great Kenenisa Bekele win in Beijing, it was something that grew in my heart.
“I said, ‘one day I want to be Olympic champion’. It is the most special day. I can’t describe the feeling. I’ve wanted this for a long time. When I took silver in Tokyo I was so disappointed. I just wanted to win the 10,000 metres.”