By Chris Chavez
July 2, 2023
5000m and 10,000m world record holder Joshua Cheptegei will make his highly-anticipated marathon debut in Valencia on Dec. 3.
Here’s what you need to know:
– At just 26 years old, Cheptegei has put together one of the best track resumes from the past decade. He is a two-time world champion at 10,000m and earned gold in the 5000m and silver in the 10,000m at the Tokyo Olympics.
– 2020 was widely considered Cheptegei’s breakout season as he opened the year with the 5K road world record in 12:51 in Monaco. (The record stood until Berihu Aregawi broke the record in Dec. 2021) At the Monaco Diamond League in Aug. 2020, Cheptegei ran 12:35.36 to break Kenenisa Bekele’s world record, which had stood for 16 years. Two months later, he broke the 10,000m world record in 26:11.00 in Valencia.
– The Valencia Marathon has been won in under 2:04 in three of the last four years.
– The Ugandan marathon record is 2:04:48 by Stephen Kissa from the 2022 Hamburg Marathon.
What Cheptegei said:
“I feel it is time to expand my horizon, I have been running on the track for 10 years now,” Cheptegei said in a press release. “I always had full focus on the track distances, while I knew the marathon was waiting for me. It is an ambition that I am really excited to go for, it will be new and challenging. For next year my focus will be on the track at the Paris Olympic Games, but hopefully, my marathon debut will be a good experience and then I can decide after the Olympic Games what my next steps will be.”
“Valencia is a very special place to me, I have run 2 of my world records there and they organized the NN Valencia World Record Day for me in Covid-times,” he added. “Now they have given me the opportunity to run my first marathon. I already know the track in Valencia and I am very excited to explore the roads here.”
What happens next:
Cheptegei is still focusing his efforts on the track to try and win his first 5000m world championship gold medal and defend his 10,000m title for the third time. He would join Haile Gebrselassie, Kenenisa Bekele and Mo Farah as the only men in history to win three 10,000m world championship gold medals.
Cheptegei has yet to race a 10,000m on the track this season. He has raced twice over 5000m in the Diamond League circuit. He opened up with a 12:53.81 fourth-place finish in Florence. On Friday, he ran 12:41.61 to finish second behind Aregawi in Lausanne.
Listen to Cheptegei on the CITIUS MAG Podcast
Back in March, Cheptegei sat down with me the day after he finished second at the NYC Half. We briefly touched on his marathon aspirations. You can listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your shows. The show notes with notable quotes can be found here.
Our Take
In a very similar fashion, fellow NN Running team member and half marathon world record holder Letesenbet Gidey chose Valencia for her marathon debut after her own history of breaking records there. She went on to run 2:16:49 for the fastest debut in history.
Cheptegei’s 5000m time of 12:35.36 is worth about 1303 points on the World Athletics’ scoring table, which is the equivalent of 2:01:40 for the marathon. His 10,000m time of 26:11.00 is worth 1306 points, which is the equivalent of 2:01:29 for the marathon.
Both those times would be faster than Kelvin Kiptum’s 2:01:53 to win Valencia in his marathon debut last year. Whereas Kiptum stunned many and had a short resume as a half marathon specialist, Cheptegei heads to the marathon with a much more traditional track background that led the likes of Eliud Kipchoge and Kenenisa Bekele to run 2:01 – but not on their first try at the distance.
His half marathon personal best of 59:21 is worth 1213 points on the World Athletics’ scoring table, which is the equivalent of 2:06:52 for the marathon, which seems easily doable for him.
If the conditions in Valencia are as perfect as they have been in recent years, this will be a great opportunity to run fast. – Chris Chavez
Chris Chavez
Chris Chavez launched CITIUS MAG in 2016 as a passion project while working full-time for Sports Illustrated. He covered the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and grew his humble blog into a multi-pronged media company. He completed all six World Marathon Majors and is an aspiring sub-five-minute miler.
