Joshua Cheptegei

Joshua Kiprui Cheptegei (born 12 September 1996) is a Ugandan long-distance runner. Cheptegei is the current world record holder for the 5000 metres and the 10,000 metres, and holds the world best time over the 15 kilometres distance. Cheptegei set the world best time for the 5 kilometres in 2020, becoming the first person ever to run that distance under 13 minutes (12:51.) Cheptegei is the reigning Olympic champion in the 5000 m and the reigning three-time World champion in the 10,000 m. Cheptegei also won a gold medal in the 5000 m and 10,000 m at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and at the 2019 IAAF World Cross Country Championships.

Cheptegei is the tenth man in history to hold the 5000 m and 10,000 m world records concurrently, both set in 2020.

Early life
Joshua Cheptegei was born on 12 September 1996 in Kapsewui, Kapchorwa District, Uganda. In primary school, he first played football and tried out long jump and triple jump, but switched to running when he discovered his talent in distance running.

Cheptegei studied procurement and logistics management at the University of Kisoro in Uganda and is employed by the Uganda National Police. His coach is Addy Ruiter. In the timeframe from March to May 2020, he reduced his weekly training sessions from 12 to 8.

Career
He is a silver medallist in the 10,000 metres at the 2017 World Championships in London. He also competed in the 10,000 metres at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing, finishing ninth. He ran at the 2016 Summer Olympics in the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres, finishing eighth and sixth respectively. Cheptegei was the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres champion at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. He won silver in the 10,000 metres and gold in the 5,000 metres at the 2020 Summer Olympics.

Cheptegei is a four-time winner of the Zevenheuvelenloop 15 km road race in Nijmegen, Netherlands. In 2018, he set the world record for a 15 km road race. Abrar Osman finished second with 42:34 and the 2017 5000 m world champion Muktar Edris placed third with 42:56. On 19 February 2022, the record was broken by Cheptegei's compatriot Jacob Kiplimo, who ran a 15 km split of 40:43 min at the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon.

Cheptegei was the winner of the senior men's race at the 2019 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Aarhus, Denmark. He won in 31:40 on the 10.24 km course. Ugandan teammate Jacob Kiplimo finished second in 31:44, while Thomas Ayeko placed seventh and Joseph Ayeko tenth; Uganda won the team first-place title.

World records
On 1 December 2019, he set a new 10 km road race record in Valencia, Spain. His time of 26:38 improved on the previous world record, set by Leonard Komon in 2010, by 6 seconds. This mark has since been lowered to 26:24, the world record being held, as of October 2020, by Rhonex Kipruto of Kenya, who also incidentally set it in Valencia just six weeks later, on 12 January 2020.

On 16 February 2020, he set a new 5 km road race world record in Monaco with a time of 12:51. The previous ratified record was 13:22, set by Robert Keter on 9 November 2019 in Lille, France, and the previous fastest time ever recorded over the distance was 13:00 set by Sammy Kipketer on 26 March 2000 in Carlsbad, USA. This record stood for nearly two years until broken by Berihu Aregawi, who ran 12:49 at the Cursa dels Nassos meet in Barcelona on 31 December 2021.

On 13 August 2020, a day before the Herculis meet of the Diamond League in Monaco, Cheptegei announced that he aimed to return to the track and run his first official race in the season with a world record time in the 5000 metres, which would be more than 20 seconds faster than his personal best on a track. At the meet on the next day, with the help of expert pace-making from Roy Hoornweg, Stephen Kissa, and Matthew Ramsden, he set a new world record in the 5000 metres with a time of 12:35.36, which broke Kenenisa Bekele's 16-year-old record – the longest duration in the history of the event – by almost 2 seconds. His splits were 2:31.87; 5:03.77; 7:35.14 and 10:05.46. Bekele congratulated Cheptegei from Addis Ababa.

On 7 October 2020, in Valencia, he set a world record time of 26:11.00 in the 10,000 metres, which improved on Kenenisa Bekele's 15-year-old record by more than 6 seconds.

Circuit wins and titles

 * Diamond League 5000 metres champion: Diamond blue.svg 2019
 * 2019: Eugene Prefontaine Classic in Stanford (Two miles, ), Zürich Weltklasse (5000 m, PB)
 * 2020: Monaco Herculis (5000 m, )
 * 2021: Eugene (Two miles)
 * 2022: Eugene (5000 m)