Who is Joshua Cheptegei? Flash Uganda Media looks at his biography, age, wife, family, tribe, relationship with Carol Kamari, Stephenson Munerya Kwalya (father), Irene Chemusto (mother), 2017 World Championships, early life and education of the long-distance runner from Uganda.
Joshua Kiprui Cheptegei is a long-distance runner from Uganda. He is the current Assistant Superintendent of Police.
Early life and Education
Joshua Cheptegei was born on September 12, 1996 to Stephenson Munerya Kwalya (father) a primary school teacher, and Irene Chemusto (mother) in Kapsewui, Kapchorwa District, Uganda.
He has eight siblings and he is married to Carol Kamari, a practicing civil engineer daughter of the late engineer Stephen Chesang (father) and businesswoman Jessica Chesakit (mother) with whom he has one child.
He began his education at Mengya Boarding Primary School in Kween District, then transferred to Town View Secondary School in Kapchorwa for O-Level studies until 2010, when he transferred hundreds of kilometers to MM College Wairaka in Jinja District, where he graduated in 2012.
In 2013, he enrolled at Bugema University to pursue a Literature in English and English Language degree, but he did not complete the second year after deciding to pursue a different path.
Career and Professional Work Experience
Joshua Cheptegei first tried out long jump and triple jump in primary school before switching to running when he discovered his talent for distance running.
He won silver in the 10,000m at the 2017 World Championships in London. He also finished ninth in the 10,000m at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing.
He competed in the 5000m and 10,000m races at the 2016 Summer Olympics, finishing eighth and sixth, respectively.
Cheptegei won the 5000m and 10,000m titles at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. At the 2020 Summer Olympics, he won silver in the 10,000 meters and gold in the 5,000 meters.
Cheptegei has won the Zevenheuvelenloop 15 km road race in Nijmegen, the Netherlands four times. Cheptegei broke the world record for a 15-kilometer road race in 2018. Abrar Osman came in second with 42:34, and Muktar Edris, the 2017 5000 m world champion, came in third with 42:56.
Cheptegei’s compatriot Jacob Kiplimo broke the record on February 19, 2022, when he ran a 15km split of 40:43 minutes at the Ras Al Khaimah Half Marathon.
At the 2019 IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Aarhus, Denmark, Cheptegei won the senior men’s race. On the 10.24 km course, he won in 31:40. Ugandan teammate Jacob Kiplimo finished second in 31:44, followed by Thomas Ayeko in seventh and Joseph Ayeko in tenth; Uganda won the team title.
Achievements and Awards
On December 1, 2019, Joshua Cheptegei set a new 10 km road race record in Valencia, Spain. His time of 26:38 was 6 seconds faster than Leonard Komon’s previous world record set in 2010.
This time has since been reduced to 26:24, with Rhonex Kipruto of Kenya holding the world record as of October 2020, having set it just six weeks earlier, on January 12, 2020, in Valencia.
On February 16, 2020, he set a new 5 km road race world record in Monaco with a time of 12:51. Robert Keter set the previous ratified record of 13:22 on 9 November 2019 in Lille, France, and Sammy Kipketer set the previous fastest time ever recorded over the distance on 26 March 2000 in Carlsbad, USA.
This record stood for nearly two years until it was broken on December 31, 2021, by Berihu Aregawi, who ran 12:49 at the Cursa dels Nassos meet in Barcelona.
On 13 August 2020, Cheptegei announced a day before the Herculis Diamond League meet in Monaco that he planned to return to the track and run his first official race of the season with a world record time in the 5000 metres, which would be more than 20 seconds faster than his personal best on a track.
The next day, with expert pace-making from Roy Hoornweg, Stephen Kissa, and Matthew Ramsden, he set a new world record in the 5000 meters with a time of 12:35.36, breaking Kenenisa Bekele’s 16-year-old record – the longest duration in the event’s history – by nearly 2 seconds.
His split times were 2:31.87, 5:03.77, 7:35.14, and 10:05.46 seconds. Bekele congratulated Addis Ababa’s Cheptegei.
On October 7, 2020, in Valencia, he set a world record time of 26:11.00 in the 10000m, breaking Kenenisa Bekele’s 15-year-old record by more than 6 seconds.
Controversies
Back in March 2017, the Ugandan 20-year-old reached the pinnacle of his career by leading a global championship on home soil, having built an almost insurmountable lead in the men’s race at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships in Kampala.
With one lap remaining, Cheptegei led Kenya’s Geoffrey Kamworor by 12 seconds, causing a commotion in the packed stands as Ugandans cheered on their champion-in-waiting. He was slowing even with one kilometer to go, but he still had a seven-second lead.
But then fatigue took a vice-like grip on the youngster’s body, his stride eventually shortening to a drunken stutter over the final half mile. He crossed the finish line delirious and dejected in 30th place, having lost nearly two minutes to his competitors in the final kilometre.
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