Joshua Cheptegei has made amends for his 2017 performance by winning Gold at the 2019 World Cross Country Championships held in Aarhus, Denmark.
Cheptegei who collapsed in Kampala, two years ago has this time round beaten the rest of the field to become Uganda’s first Gold Medalist in the senior Men’s category at the global event.
In winning it, the double Commonwealth Champions beat off stiff competition from another Ugandan Jacob Kiplimo who finished second.
Cheptegei became the first Ugandan to win gold in the men’s senior Category at the IAAF World Cross Championship.
Cheptegei clocked 31min 40sec around the 10.2km-long course, he and Kiplimo pushing Kenya’s double defending champion Geoffrey Kamworor into third (31:55).
“It is an awesome feeling winning here today. Since I missed it last time in 2017 I now reached my mission to return with the gold medal,” Cheptegei said.
“It means a lot to me to be the first ever Ugandan to win this title. The course was very hard and difficult but I had a very strong preparation at home in Kampala where the terrain is very similar.”
