While all eyes were glued on golden boy and race favourite, Joshua Cheptegei who was pushing for a second world title, after winning the 10,000m race last week, 20-year-old Chelimo presented another alternative for Uganda with a masterclass finish, overtaking Canada’s Mohammed Ahmed in the last 20 meters of the race.
Norway’s Jacob Ingerbrigtsen won the race in 13:09.24 while Kenya’s Jacob Krop came second in 13:09.98 as Cheptegei finished in a disappointing ninth position. Cheptegei led the pack on the track for the first four laps before Kenya’s duo Jacob Krop and Daniel Simiu overtook him. This is the only time Cheptegei spent in the podium positions in the entire race and continued fading off as several athletes cruised past him.
However, as he slowed down, he signaled Chelimo who was among the last for almost the first 9 laps to sprint. Chelimo who was in the second last position towards the last lap overtook almost eleven athletes in the final 400 metres. It remains unclear if these were team Uganda tactics at play as happened with Cheptegei’s 10,000m win when Jacob Kiplimo played similar tactics in Cheptegei’s favour.
Before the finals of 5000m, Chelimo first surprised the world when he won the semifinal heat in 13 minutes, 24 seconds, and 24 microseconds beating competition from USA’s Grant Fisher who came second in the race, and the 2019 World Championship silver medalist Selemon Barega while Cheptegei came fourth.
Chelimo’s breakthrough was in 2018 when he won 3000m bronze at the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina. However during the last edition of the World Championships in Doha 2019, Chelimo did not progress to the finals 5000m after finishing 14th in heat one of the race.Â
During the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, Chelimo finished last (16) in the final of the 5000m race that was won by his compatriot Cheptegei, who previously had finished 4th in heat one of the semi-finals to qualify for the final.
Cheptegei and Chelimo were the only Uganda athletes left in the championship, therefore, Chelimo’s bronze ends Uganda’s medal bid at the 2022 edition of the world athletics championship. It is the third medal after Cheptegei’s gold and Kiplimo’s bronze over the 10,000m distance.
inarticle} inarticle}
Â