Tokyo Olympics: Ugandan Cheptegei strikes 5,000m gold
@Matthewsmutai in Tokyo, Japan
World record holder Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda won the men’s 5,000m gold at the Tokyo Olympics on Friday after a 12:58.15 run, adding a golden crown to the 10,000m silver he won last week.
Canadian Ahmed Mohammed took silver in 12:58.61 and Paul Chelimo of the USA was third (12:59.05), with Kenya’s sole representative in the event Nicholas Kimeli missing out on a podium finish by just 12 seconds for fourth place.
Jacob Kiplimo set the early pace with Chelimo, Ethiopian Milkesa Mengesha, Kimeli and Justin Knight of Canada following the Ugandan in that order in a neat file.
After sticking in the middle through the opening laps, Cheptegei injected some pace to join the leading pack of five and quickly took charge with Mengesha and Kimeli occupying the second and third spots.
Kimeli charged to the front with Cheptegei dropping back fourth as Chelimo put himself in contention with a steady surge to briefly overtake the Kenyan and then back second.
Kimeli crossed the mark for the penultimate time with a one metre advantage which was cut by Cheptegei with the Ugandan hitting the front after finding a different gear as they came to the final straight for the last time.
In a tight finish for third place, Chelimo slightly edged Kimeli with American adding Olympic bronze to the silver he won in Rio five years ago.
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