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On a hot, humid night in Budapest he broke clear approaching the bell and stamped his authority over the field with a 53-second last lap to bring home Uganda’s first gold medal of the championships.
In what is said to be his last appearance in the 10000m race at the World Championship, Joshua Cheptegei ran a race of life under the setting sun at the National Athletics Centre in Budapest, Hungary.
Cheptegei ran a time of 27:51.42 to add the Budapest medal to his 2019 triumph in Doha, Qatar and 2021 in Oregon, USA.
The world record holder over 5000m and 10,000m has had an injury-hit year and struggled to hit his top form.
But, on a hot, humid night in Budapest he broke clear approaching the bell and stamped his authority over the field with a 53-second last lap to bring home Uganda’s first gold medal of the championships.
The victory takes him level with Great Britain’s Mo Farah, who won the world title in 2013 (Moscow), 2015 (Beijing) and 2017 (London).
Cheptegei and Farah are one title short of the Ethiopian duo of Haile Gebrselassie and Kenenisa Bekele, who won the world title four times each.
Kenya’s Daniel Simiu Ebenyo took silver, finishing a second behind Cheptegei, with Ethiopia’s Selemon Barega taking bronze. Hot favourite Berihu Aregawi finished fourth.
The women’s race during Saturday’s evening session was full of drama with Sifan Hassan’s fall 25 metres from the finish line, raising anticipation for what the men’s race could produce.
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19:09 - 20.08.2023
ATHLETICS Cheptegei bags Shs265m cash prize for clinching historic third world title
Uganda's athletic sensation, Joshua Cheptegei, has secured an impressive reward of Shs265 million from World Athletics for his outstanding victory in the 10,000m race at the 2023 World Athletics Championships held in Budapest.
But it was a perfect execution of team tactics for Uganda, especially following the disaster of the 10000m at the Tokyo Olympics that saw Barega knick gold ahead of the Ugandans.
With Jacob Kiplimo missing the race through injury, and Stephen Kissa involved in the marathon next Saturday, Uganda deployed Joel Ayeko to set the pace early on.
And Cheptegei responded immediately this time round, going ahead of the group through the opening 800m, and continued to dominate the race through the first half.
As Ayeko disappeared from the race after the opening 10 laps, the Kenyans also tried the same tactic, sending Nicholas Kopkiror to the front to try and break up the group.
But no one was sold on the bait. However, shortly after, Barega took command of the race with 10 laps to go, sprinting from the back of the pack.
Amidst all the changes to try and unsettle Cheptegei, he remained stead fast and comfortable in his approach, eventually breaking the field with 600m to go.
Barega tried to stay with him in the dash to the finish line, but victory became clear with 200m to go as he raced away to take victory.
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