Joshua Cheptegei

Widely considered as one of the greatest long distance runners of all time, Joshua Cheptegei is an Olympic 5000m champion from Uganda. He broke the world record in the 10,000 meters and the 5,000 meters, becoming the first person to hold both world records simultaneously.

Cheptegei was born in Uganda in 1996. He started running at a young age and quickly showed promise as a long distance runner. Cheptegei won his first major international race in 2012, when he won the gold medal in the 10,000 meters at the World Junior Championships. He went on to win multiple medals at the World Championships and the Commonwealth Games. In 2019, he won the gold medal in the 10,000 meters at the World Championships, which made him the first Ugandan to ever win a gold medal in the competition. In the same year, he was named the BBC Sports Personality of the Year: Overseas Personality of the Year.

In April 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Cheptegei broke the world record for the men’s road 10K on the streets of Monaco, with a time of 26:38 minutes. This was also the first time that a sub-27 minute 10K had ever been run on roads. In September 2020, he set a new world record in the 5000m, with a time of 12:35:36 minutes, at the Diamond League meet in Brussels. This was his second world record in less than six months.