Joshua Cheptegei and Jacob Kiplimo are among the favourites to win medals in the Men’s 5000m at the Tokyo Olympics.
The Ugandan duo competed for 10000m glory with Cheptegei winning silver and Kiplimo settling for bronze.
Given how fast the field has been this season over the distance, the 5000m final is most likely to be fast with all the contenders having already run under Kenenisa Bekele’s Olympic record of 12:57.82 this season.
In his first 5000m race of the year, Cheptegei finished a distant sixth at the Wanda Diamond League meeting in Florence in 12:54.69. The 24-year-old was, however, under no pressure during the heats, switching on and off in intervals.
A world record holder over the distance, Cheptegei has an intrinsic desire of shattering the Olympic record but more importantly for him winning Olympic gold.
Meanwhile, Kiplimo who won the 5000m race in Lucerne in 12:55.60 to qualify for the Olympics back in June was equally relaxed through the heats. The 20-year-old will definitely have a big say in the race and could return to the podium.
Rising star Oscar Chelimo who is a young brother to Kiplimo spoke of how he wishes for a 1-2-3 finish for Uganda but he is under no pressure to deliver, yet.
Mohammed Ahmed of Canada, Paul Chelimo of the USA, and Mohamed Katir of Spain are the others who will be in contention for medal positions.
Tokyo Olympics
- Event: Men’s 5000m Final
- Date: Friday, August 6
- Time: 3:00pm (East African Time)
i wish the Uganda trio in 5000m race best wishes and success. i challenge all the people of sebei & entire ugandans to pray hard for their sons and daughters to get gold medals. the likes of nanyondo, cheptegei, chelimo, kiplimo, kiprotich, malewa & others work hard, the country is relying on you. raise the uganda flag today and other days as well. am kitiyo george, Kapchorwa
For sure they need our prayers