On August 14, 2020, Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei delivered one of the most remarkable distance-running performances in history, breaking Kenenisa Bekele’s 16-year-old 5000m world record at the Herculis Monaco Diamond League.
Running at Stade Louis II in Monaco, Cheptegei clocked 12:35.36, taking almost two seconds off Bekele’s previous mark of 12:37.35, set in 2004.
The achievement was even more remarkable given the circumstances. Cheptegei had spent much of the year training in Kapchorwa after COVID-19 travel restrictions disrupted international competition. Monaco was his first track race of the season.
The race was built around precision. Dutch pacemaker Roy Hoornweg led through 1000m in 2:31.87, while Australia’s Matthew Ramsden brought the field through 2000m in 5:03.77. Ugandan Stephen Kissa then helped maintain the pace around halfway.
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Cheptegei took control after 2500m and maintained a relentless rhythm, repeatedly producing laps around 61 seconds. He passed 3000m in 7:35.14 before closing the fourth kilometre in approximately 2:30.
With the field falling away behind him, Cheptegei produced a final kilometre of 2:30.32 and finished with a blistering 59.64-second final lap.
The world record was a defining moment in Cheptegei’s career, but it was only the beginning of an extraordinary period. On October 7, 2020, less than two months later, he broke Bekele’s 10,000m world record in Valencia with a time of 26:11.00, briefly holding both the 5000m and 10,000m world records simultaneously.
Cheptegei went on to win Olympic 5000m gold and 10,000m silver at Tokyo 2020, becoming the first Ugandan athlete to win two medals at a single Olympic Games. At Paris 2024, he added another Olympic gold in the 10,000m, setting an Olympic record of 26:43.14.
His dominance at the World Championships has been equally significant. Cheptegei won three successive 10,000m world titles in Doha in 2019, Eugene in 2022 and Budapest in 2023. He also won the 2019 World Cross Country Championships and claimed 5000m and 10,000m gold at the 2018 Commonwealth Games.
Beyond the medals and records, Cheptegei has become a major figure in the development of Ugandan athletics. Through his training base in Kapchorwa, he has helped strengthen the country’s distance-running ecosystem and provided a platform for emerging athletes.