Joshua Cheptegei has done it again! The 24-year-old Ugandan marathoner has recently smashed the 10,000m world record at 26:11.02 minutes in Valencia. He broke Ethiopian Kenenisa Bekele’s 26:17:53 minutes world’s fastest record, making him the fastest man in the world. Joshua Cheptegei has broken two world records this year, 2020. Joshua Cheptegei is relishing Mo Farah rematch as he bids to become the ‘greatest distance athlete of all time’ … His last track outing had seen him win the world 10,000m title in Farah’s absence, having made do with silver behind Farah when the two last met at the 2017 World Championships.
Joshua Cheptegei set a new world 5 km road record in Monaco back in February before retreating to his native Uganda lockdown. But on Wednesday night, he bagged a third, breaking Kenenisa Bekele’s 10,000m track record in Valencia’s Turia Stadium. In August, he returned to Monaco, knocked off the 16-year-old race course-distance record of Kenenisa Bekele approximately two seconds, creating a new record of 12min 35.36seconds.
The record he recently broke was another of Bekele’s long-standing marks, established in Brussels in August 2005. Cheptegei is now the fastest man in the entire world in 5,000m (5 km) and 10,000m (10 km) races. The new 10,000m world record holder will match up against Mo Farah, Somali born but British long-distance runner at Tokyo 2021.
Inside the Life of Joshua Cheptegei
Joshua Kiprui Cheptegei was born and raised in Kapsewui, Uganda, on 12 September 1996. His first passion was soccer, but later, he discovered his endurance skills, which prompted him to venture into running. Eventually, success found his way to his life. He won gold in the 10,000m at the World Junior Championships in Oregon, US, in 2014. A Gold medal followed this over the same distance at the African Junior Championships in 2015. Although he finished outside the awards at the 2016 Rio Olympics–finishing eighth in the 5000m and sixth in the 10,000m–he won gold over both distances at the 2017 Commonwealth Games.
In 2018, Joshua set the world record for 15 Km in 41 minutes 5 seconds–and won more than 10,000m earlier this year during the World Championships in Doha. Cheptegei belongs to the NN Running team like the Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge. So, Joshua is very much an athlete on the rise–something that his latest record, over 10,000m, confirms.
Joshua ran the 26-minute 38-second time equals 2 minutes 40 seconds a kilometer. He also completed the first 5Km in 13 minutes–and then finished with 13 minutes. The record holder later finished the second 5K in 14 seconds–a good race.
Should British Olympic Gold Medalist Mo Farah Fear Joshua Cheptegei?
This is fascinating from a British perspective because Cheptegei is likely to be one of Mo Farah’s 10,000m crown’s primary challengers at next summer’s Olympics in Tokyo,2021. Although Mo Farah comfortably beat his young rival, Joshua, in Rio 2016, there’s no doubt he’ll be watching Cheptegei’s progress with interest now that he has recently smashed the 10,000m world record at 26:11.02 minutes in Valencia on Wednesday, this week.
Joshua is 24, and Farah will be 38 next summer, a little old for a professional 10,000m racer, right? The best run of Cheptegei is faster than the best run of Farah. But in reality, Farah has been there, done it, and won the medals. He is a proven performer under pressure and has always won. Can he do the same in Tokyo, 2021, or will there be a changing distance- running guard? Either way, the 10,000m at Tokyo 2021 just got even more exciting.
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