The last (and first) time he participated in the IAAF World Cross Country Championship, which was also the last edition of the competition, Joshua Cheptegei burnt out with a few metres to go to win Uganda a gold medal on home soil.
Forget that! Cheptegei has this afternoon won the gold medal he missed at Kololo, coming first in an elite list of global cross country specialists at the 2019 IAAF World Cross Country Championships on Arhaus, Denmark.
Cheptegei now brings home Uganda’s first ever IAAF World Cross Country gold medal at the senior level.
Cheptegei’s win was even sweeter for Uganda as another son of the soil, Joshua Kiplimon (World Junior and All-Africa Cross Country Champion) came second, making it a 1-2 finish for Uganda. Kenyan Geofrey Kamworor who has dominated the championship over the last few years could only come third behind the two Ugandans.