World Champion Joshua Cheptegei burst onto the scene in 2017 when Uganda hosted the World Cross Country Championships in Kampala. Cheptegei was Uganda’s hope for gold in the competition but he only managed pull a viral video that was mocked by the public.
Cheptegei initially thrilled the home fans by taking a nearly unbeatable lead in the senior 10km race. But with a lap to go, he started running in ‘slow motion’ something that cost him a medal as he finished in 30th position.
A few months later, Cheptegei showed that he will be a real deal when he won silver atthe 2017 World Championships in London behind Mo Farah.
In 2018, he clinched distance double gold at Gold Coast before bringing Uganda’s first World Cross country title in 2019 in Aarhus, Denmark.
The strongman proved himself this year in February in Monaco where he set a new 5km road race world record in 12 minutes 51 seconds, erasing the previous mark of 13:22.
Last month he smashed the 5,000m world record in Monaco as Diamond League action returned.
Now his sights are set on breaking a 10,000 metres record of 26min 17.53sec set by Ethiopia’s Kenenisa Bekele in Brussels on August 26, 2005. He will be running at 9:30 pm Ugandan time.