Who is Oscar Chelimo? Flash Uganda Media looks at his biography, age, wife, family, tribe, relationship with Jacob Kiplimo and Victor Kiplangat, the late Stephen Arap Simba Chebet (father), and Mercy Chebet (mother), Rosa Associati and Coach Guiseppe Giambrone, Oregon World Championships, the early life and education of the Ugandan long-distance runner.
Oscar Chelimo is a long-distance runner from Uganda whose major event is the 5000m race.
Chelimo is the youngest Ugandan athlete to win the bronze medal in the 5000-meter final at the Oregon World Championships on July 24 2022 at Hayward Field in Eugene, USA. His athlete code is 14805793.
Early life and Education
Oscar Chelimo was born on December 12, 2001, to the late Stephen Arap Simba Chebet (father) who passed on in 2017, and Mercy Chebet (mother) in Benet Sub-county, Kween District, Uganda.
He is a step-brother to Jacob Kiplimo and Victor Kiplangat who are both national runners.
Career and Professional Work Experience
He finished seventh in the men’s 5000m event at the 2018 IAAF World U20 Championships in Tampere, Finland. Oscar Chelimo had a breakthrough in 2018 when he took home the bronze medal in the 3000m at the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
He competed for Uganda at the 2019 African Games in Rabat, Morocco. He competed in the men’s 5000 meters and finished fifth.
In that same year, he also competed in the men’s 5000 metres event at the 2019 World Athletics Championships held in Doha, Qatar though he did not qualify to compete in the final after coming 14th in the opening heat.
He won the men’s race at the BOclassic in Bolzano, Italy, in 2020. Oscar Chelimo placed sixteenth (finally) in the 5000-meter race at the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, which was won by his countryman Joshua Cheptegei. Before that, he had placed fourth in the semifinal’s first heat to advance to the final.
Since coming in 16th place in the 5000m final at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, Chelimo’s career has undergone a significant turnaround.
He raced 5000m in Bergamo, Italy on May 12, 2021, finishing third in 13:06.79, an Olympic qualifying time. Chelimo then competed in the 3000m at the 60th Ostrava Golden Spike, finishing third in 7:43.00. Oscar Chelimo is under the management of Rosa Associati and Coach Guiseppe Giambrone.
On the 5000m track in 2022 at Eugene Oregon, Chelimo came as the first on July 21st during the semifinal heat finishing at 13:24.24 thus qualifying for the World Athletics Championship.
He beat USA’s Grant Fisher who was second in the race, and the 2019 World Championship silver medalist Selemon Barega came in third while Cheptegei came forth.
On July 24th, he came third with a finishing time of 13:10.20 as his season’s personal best in the championships winning bronze.
Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen won the gold medal by crossing the finish line in 13:09.24, and Kenyan Jacob Krop won silver in 13:09.98. The Ugandan defending champion, Joshua Cheptegei came in as the 9th in 13:13.12.
Before this on May 22nd, he finished in third place with a finishing time of 13:11.16 at the Castiglione Meeting.
Achievements and Awards
Oscar Chelimo has received several medals with major honours as a World Championships Bronze medallist in 2022, World Cross Country Championships Bronze medallist in 2019 and an African Youth Games Silver medallist.
He has also been in the top 8 at the All-African Games and World U20 Championships. Chelimo hasn’t finished below third in any of his 5000m races in 2022.
He added to Uganda’s three medals (adding to Cheptegei’s gold and Jacob Kiplimo’s bronze over the 10,000m distance) when he won the bronze in Oregon making it the second medal of his career.
He won his first bronze medal in the boys’ 3000-metre race at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
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