By Paul Hof-Mahoney
August 2, 2024
What have we just witnessed? Already the owner of three World titles over 10,000m in his trophy case, Joshua Cheptegei has finally added the elusive Olympic gold to his collection as well, running 26:43.14 for the win. The Ugandan legend did so in Olympic record fashion, taking over 18 seconds off the great Kenenisa Bekele’s mark from 2008. Behind Cheptegei, it was an absolutely incredible race. The top 13 finishers all dipped below 27 minutes – or in other words, also under Bekele’s old record of 27:01.17. Berihu Aregawi took home the silver medal with a furious finish down the home stretch, and Grant Fisher powered to the line for bronze, winning only the second Olympic medal in this event by an American man since 1968.
Jacob Gower / @jacob_gower_
Here’s what you need to know:
- To the delight of the home crowd, France’s Jimmy Gressier took the race out hot, but much of the work in this race was done by the Ethiopian triumvirate of Selemon Barega, Yomif Kejelcha, and Aregawi. This trio led a big pack that pulled away from the field by consistently clipping off 64 second laps. This is a blistering pace that few men in history have been able to maintain for the full 25-lap race (granted, many of the men who have been able to do so were in this field).
- With around five laps left, the pace dropped a few ticks, but there was still a lead pack 13-strong 2km out from the finish.
- Cheptegei moved to the front with about 500m left and quickly created a gap on his competitors. Once he made his move, nobody seemed to truly threaten the world record holder the rest of the way, as he made a 54.97 second last lap look way smoother than it should have after those very hard preceding 24 laps. With this gold, Cheptegei has found himself on the podium in each of the last six global finals at this distance.
- While Cheptegei earning a medal was never really in doubt over the closing stages of this race, the battle for silver and bronze was an absolute free-for-all. Fisher came through the bell in sixth, despite almost tripping on the rail a few laps earlier, but maintained his composure and found his way through the field to be in a great position on the home straight. It looked like he had silver wrapped up until…
- Aregawi moved from seventh all the way up to second over an absolutely wild final 100m of this race. He seemed to be moving backwards for most of the final lap, but he somehow found something deep within him that willed him to one of the more impressive finishes I’ve ever seen. Fisher could feel him closing and dipped at the line, but ultimately Aregawi came out on top in 26:43.44 to Fisher’s 26:43.46.
- Finishing just off the podium, Moh Ahmed (Canada, 26:43.79) Bernard Kibet (Kenya, 26:43.98) and Kejelcha (26:44.02) came up with no medals despite finishing less than a second behind the winner in a race that spans 10 kilometers. That’s just how crazy this race was.
- Final hat tips have to go to Thierry Ndikumwenayo (Spain, 26:49.49), Adrian Wildschutt (South Africa, 26:50.64) and Gressier (26:58.67) for breaking their respective national records.
Jacob Gower / @jacob_gower_
Here’s what they had to say:
- “I knew that these Olympics were going to be super fast because the field was incredible, every athlete there was special and their level is really high. I was prepared… Especially being my last race on the track, my last Olympics on the track, it’s so special that I’m able to win today, especially at the 10K distance.”
- Joshua Cheptegei on his expectations coming into the race and the feeling of taking gold at his last Olympics before heading to the roads.
- “When everyone thinks Cheptegei is gone, I come back! I come back for them.”
- Cheptegei on doubters going into championship races given his light racing schedule.
- “When you know your preparation is good, all you have to do is execute. There are so many things that go into today, and ultimately this is the fun part. You’re training for something always, and in our sport, the Olympics is the biggest thing you can train for. To get it done today, I had my friends and family here, it feels so, so good. It’s validating.”
- Grant Fisher on making his mindset coming into the meet and the emotions of making his first global podium.
- “There were a lot of people around still. I thought I got into a good position, came off the corner, and I had pretty good momentum with 100m to go. I tied up just a little bit with like 10m to go and I think I lost that silver position, but at least I still got bronze, I guess. I’ve made mistakes in the past letting people go early, and maybe I paid for that in those last 10m by going hard with 300m, 200m to go, but I needed to do that to be in a good spot.”
By The Numbers
– Cheptegei shattered Kenenisa Bekele's 27:01.17 Olympic record, which was set at the 2008 Games in Beijing. 13 men managed to get under that mark and secured the qualifying standard (27:00) for the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo.
– There were three national records set: Spain's Thierry Ndikumwenayo (9th in 16:49.49); South Africa's Adriaan Wildschutt (10th in 26:50.64) and France's Jimmy Gressier (13th in 26:58.67). Gressier took a lap of honor after the race behind the medalists and celebrated in front of the sold-out crowd of 70,000 people at the Stade De France.
– Fisher becomes just the fourth American man to medal in the 10,000m at the Olympics behind Lewis Tewanima (1912), Billy Mills (1964) and Galen Rupp (2012).
– Cheptegei's final lap was clocked at 54.9 seconds.
– Cheptegei is the first man to be the World champion and the Olympic champion at the same time since Kenenisa Bekele in 2008.
– This was Cheptegei's first victory in a race since making his marathon debut last December in Valencia, where he ran a disappointing 2:08:59. He has said that he plans to move to the roads soon.
Full Results
1. 🇺🇬 Joshua Cheptegei: 26:43.14 OR
2. 🇪🇹 Berihu Aregawi: 26:43.44
3. 🇺🇸 Grant Fisher: 26:43.46
4. 🇨🇦 Mohammed Ahmed: 26:43.79
5. 🇰🇪 Benard Kibet: 26:43.98
6. 🇪🇹 Yomif Kejelcha: 26:44.02
7. 🇪🇹 Selemon Barega: 26:44.48
8. 🇺🇬 Jacob Kiplimo: 26:46.39
9. 🇪🇸 Thierry Ndikumwenayo: 26:49.49 NR
10. 🇿🇦 Adriaan Wildschutt: 26:50.64 NR
11. 🇰🇪 Daniel Mateiko: 26:50.83
12. 🇺🇸 Nico Young: 26:58.11
13. 🇫🇷 Jimmy Gressier: 26:58.67 NR
14. 🇰🇪 Nicholas Kipkorir: 27:23.97
15. 🇪🇷 Merhawi Mebrahtu: 27:24.25
16. 🇺🇸 William Kincaid: 27:29.40
17. 🇧🇷 Birhanu Balew: 27:30.94
18. 🇪🇷 Jamal Abdelmaji Eisa Mohammed: 27:35.92
19. 🇧🇪 Isaac Kimeli: 27:51.52
20. 🇯🇵 Jun Kasai: 27:53.18
21. 🇷🇼 Yves Nimubona: 27:54.12
22. 🇺🇬 Martin Magengo Kiprotich: 28:20.72
23. 🇪🇸 Abdessamad Oukhelfen: 28:21.90
24. 🇯🇵 Tomoki Ota: 29:12.48
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Paul Hof-Mahoney
Paul is currently a student at the University of Florida (Go Gators) and is incredibly excited to be making his way into the track and field scene. He loves getting the opportunity to showcase the fascinating storylines that build up year-over-year across all events (but especially the throws).
