Joshua Cheptegei Breaks Olympic Record To Win Men’s 10,000m in Paris

Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei won the 10,000m gold at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in a fast and thrilling race, with Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi and USA’s Grant Fisher winning silver and bronze respectively. 

In the first medal won on the track at the 2024 Games, 10,000m world record holder Cheptegei ran a new Olympic record time of 26:43.14 to win his first Olympic gold medal. 

The race started quick, with laps run under 65 seconds – and it didn’t slow down. 

Tokyo Olympic 10,000m champion, Ethiopia’s Selemon Barega, surged ahead and was followed by his teammates Yomif Kejelcha and Aregawi, and they held the lead for most of the race, pushing the pace as the pack spread out. USA’s Fisher remained near the front, and looked steady and strong throughout.  

The race surged forward then settled slightly, but still the sub-65 second laps continued, and the halfway split of 13:23 was well inside the Olympic record. By then half of the runners had fallen back, unable to keep up with the pace. A group of 13 runners remained in contention.

With 2km left the pace stalled briefly as the runners gathered and prepared themselves for a fast finish.

It was Cheptegei, the 10,000m Olympic silver medallist in Tokyo, who led that charge with 800m to go. He’d been with the pack the whole time, patiently hanging near back, looking comfortable throughout, and biding his time.

The Ugandan world record holder and world champion took the lead at the bell for the final lap and he won with a blistering final lap of 55 seconds. 

Behind him it looked like Grant Fisher, who ran a very strong and controlled race, was going to take second place, but a huge sprint finish from Aregawi saw him snatch the silver medal by two-hundredths of a second. 

The race was so fast that the first 13 men all finished inside the previous Olympic record of 27:01.17. 

Cheptegei, who has held the 10,000m world record since 2020, now finally adds the ultimate prize of Olympic champion to his impressive collection of titles.

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Earlier on the track, three Team GB women progressed to the semi final in the 800m, and Keely Hodgkinson, Jemma Reekie and Phoebe Gill run again on Sunday evening. In the men’s 1500m, GB’s Josh Kerr cruised through, as did his great rival Jakob Ingebrigtsen. Dutch woman Sifan Hassan and Ethiopian Gudaf Tsegay are both chasing three medals and they both made it through to 5000m final which takes place on Monday evening. 

Tomorrow we’re looking forward to the semi final and final of the women’s 100m.

Click here to see the full running schedule at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. 

Photo by Hannah Peters / Getty Images