Joshua Cheptegei extended his dominance at long distance with a gold medal in the Men’s 10,000m at the ongoing 2022 World Athletics Championships in Oregon (US)
Jacob Kiplimo came third to clinch bronze, just behind Kenya’s Stanley Waithaka Mburu who won Silver.
The tactical race was reduced to a sprint on home straight where Cheptegei held on to cruise home in 27 minutes and 27.43 seconds.
Kiplimo put in a late kick down the stretch to settle for Bronze, as the Ugandan duo served their revenge to Olympic champion Selemon Barega (Ethiopia) who missed out on the medal brackets.
The victory for Cheptegei, whose world record stands at 26:11.00, makes him the fourth athlete to defend the 10,000m World Athletics Championships title after Haile Gebrselasie, Kenenisa Bekele and Mo Farah.
This is the latest medal for Cheptegei at the World Championships having also won Silver at the 10000m in 2017 London behind Great Britain’s Mo Farah.
It’s also a sweet win for Cheptegei at Eugene (Oregon) where he also won the World Junior Championships in 2014.
Oscar Chelimo and Peter Marus will join Cheptegei on Friday morning for the 5000m heats.1