With another great display, Ugandan sprinter Joshua Cheptegei shined and won the men’s 10,000m at the World Athletics Championships for the second time in a row.
Cheptegei, the major’s world record holder, impressed the crowd at Hayward Field in Eugene, United States, by winning a thrilling final with a time of 27 minutes 27.43 seconds. Kenyan Stanley Itaka Mburu finished second with a time of 27:27.90, and Ugandan Jacob Kiplemo was third with a time of 27:27.97.
Joshua, 25, continues to win over his exceptional approach that includes winning the last World Cup in Doha 2019, two Olympic medals in Tokyo 2020, a silver in the 10 thousand meters and a gold in the 5 thousand. .
The Ugandan became the fourth rider to hold multiple world titles after Ethiopia’s Haile Gebrselassie and Kenenisa Bekele with four, and Britain’s Mo Farah with three titles.
On a sunny Sunday afternoon, Cheptegei led a lot of the race and had the attitude and physical stamina to withstand his opponents’ attack on the last lap. Spaniard Carlos Mayo even led the race in the first 1,000 metres, but he ended up paying for the effort and finished in 13th with a time of 27:50.61.
The front beam was tangled up to the last two rounds with a group of 15 athletes, larger than the African candidates would have preferred. With Mboro and Ethiopian Olympic champion Selimon Bariga setting the pace, the group fell to eight riders when the final 400-meter bell rang.
Cheptegei knew his time had come and accelerated to pass Mboro and Parega 300 meters from the finish line, gaining a slight advantage that he managed to maintain in the final stage.
Barriga finished fifth, overtaking American Grant Fisher, fourth. With the support of his fans, Fisher equaled the best American result in the 10,000 meters in the world.
In Saturday’s women’s final, Ethiopia’s Letsenbet Gedi won the gold, ending Dutch star Sivan Hassan’s dominance in fourth place.
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