Joshua Cheptegei breaks 5000m world record in Monaco
Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda broke one of the most daunting world records in track and field on Friday, running 12:35.36 for 5,000 meters in Monaco. Kenesisa Bekele’s long-standing world record was 12:37.35, set in 2004.
Cheptegei put on a metronomic performance, barely wavering from his 60-second-per-400-meter-lap average for over three miles. He ran 59.97 and 59.64 for his last two laps. His previous best was 12:57, set last year, but despite needing to cut 20 seconds from that, he said all summer that he was targeting a 5000m world record in Monaco. He did run a world-record 12:51 5K on the roads before the pandemic hit.
Cheptegei, 23, first burst onto the scene with a notoriously aggressive performance at the 2017 cross-country world championships, leading for six miles and then completely collapsing in the final mile. He won the 10,000 meters at last year’s world championships.
Because of coronavirus-related travel restrictions, it took Cheptegei more than three days to travel from Uganda to Monaco. The East African country’s borders are currently closed, but the president arranged a flight for Cheptegei from Uganda to Kenya, according to a LetsRun report. From there, he flew to Turkey, then waited nearly a day, and then flew to Nice, France, which is the standard last stop before driving to Monaco.
