Cheptegei won the 10,000m world championship three times in a row

This feat helps Cheptegei become the fourth person to score a hat-trick in the 10,000m world distance, after two Ethiopian runners Haile Gebrselassie, Kenenisa Bekele and legendary Mo Farah.

"I'm very excited and proud to win the world title for the third time in a row," said the Ugandan runner. "This is the best possible way to end the season. This could be my last time at the World Championship, and that's why this gold medal is so meaningful."

In the final night of August 20 with high temperature and 52% humidity, all 25 athletes chose cautious tactics. Except for American runner Joe Klecker, who couldn't keep up, the rest of the crowd finished the first 5,000 meters in about 14 minutes and 21 seconds.

Through 6,000 m, Selemon Barega accelerated and reduced the lap time to 66 seconds. Previously, athletes ran each lap on average from 68 to 70 seconds.

With eight laps left, Berihu Aregawi - the Ethiopian runner holding the best record of the year in both the 5,000m (12 minutes 40 seconds 45) and 10,000m distances (26 minutes 50 seconds 66) - took the lead and started pushing. faster speed.

It was not until the last two rounds that Cheptegei unleashed his strength. The Ugandan runner ran the final lap with a time of 53 seconds 46 - close to 53 seconds 42 at Eugene 2022 - to surpass Aregawi when about 600 meters from the finish line and win the gold medal with 27 minutes 51 seconds 42.

Cheptegei's achievement in the last two times to win the 10,000m gold medal at Doha 2019 and Eugene 2022 is 26 minutes 48 seconds 36 and 27 minutes 27 seconds 43, respectively.

Following Cheptegei yesterday was Daniel Ebenyo (Kenya) with 27 minutes 52 seconds 60, while the bronze medal belonged to Barega with 27 minutes 52 seconds 73. The next positions belonged to Aregawi (27 minutes 55 seconds 71), Benard Kibet ( 27 minutes 56 seconds 27) and Mo Ahmed (27 minutes 56 seconds 43 - career best achievement of Canadian runner).

Cheptegei holds the record of 5,000m with 12 minutes 35 seconds 36 in Monaco and 10,000m with 26 minutes 11 seconds in Valencia, both set in 2020. He is the tenth runner in history to hold the world records at the same time. these two distances. The 26-year-old runner won a 5,000m, 10,000m gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games, a 10,000m silver medal and a 5,000m gold medal at Tokyo 2021.

Cheptegei will run his first marathon in Valencia on December 3.