Cheptegei was born on 12 September 1996 in Kapsewui,Kapchorwa District, Uganda.[2] In primary school, he first played football and tried outlong jump andtriple jump, but he switched to running when he discovered his talent in distance running.[2]
Cheptegei studied procurement and logistics management in Uganda and is employed by theUganda National Police.[8] His coach is Addy Ruiter. In the timeframe from March to May 2020, he reduced his weekly training sessions from 12 to 8.[9]
Cheptegei is a four-time winner of theZevenheuvelenloop 15 km road race inNijmegen, Netherlands. In 2018, he set the world record for a 15 km road race.[15] Abrar Osman finished second with 42:34 and the 2017 5000 m world champion Muktar Edris placed third with 42:56.[16] On 19 February 2022, the record was broken by Cheptegei's compatriotJacob Kiplimo, who ran a 15 km split of 40:43 min at theRas Al Khaimah Half Marathon.[17]
Cheptegei was the winner of the senior men's race at the 2019IAAF World Cross Country Championships inAarhus, Denmark. He won in 31:40 on the 10.24 km course. Ugandan teammate Jacob Kiplimo finished second in 31:44, while Thomas Ayeko placed seventh and Joseph Ayeko tenth; Uganda won the team first-place title.[18]
On 1 December 2019, Cheptegei set a new10 km road race record inValencia, Spain. His time of 26:38 improved on the previous world record, set byLeonard Komon in 2010, by 6 seconds.[19]This mark has since been lowered to 26:24, the world record being held, as of October 2020, byRhonex Kipruto of Kenya, who also incidentally set it in Valencia just six weeks later, on 12 January 2020.[20]
On 16 February 2020, he set a new5 km road race world record inMonaco with a time of 12:51. The previous ratified record was 13:22, set by Robert Keter on 9 November 2019 inLille, France, and the previous fastest time ever recorded over the distance was 13:00 set bySammy Kipketer on 26 March 2000 inCarlsbad, USA. This record stood for nearly two years until broken byBerihu Aregawi, who ran 12:49 at the Cursa dels Nassos meet inBarcelona on 31 December 2021.[21]
On 13 August 2020, a day before theHerculis meet of theDiamond League in Monaco, Cheptegei announced that he aimed to return to the track and run his first official race in the season with a world record time in the5000 metres, which would be more than 20 seconds faster than his personal best on a track.[22] At the meet on the next day, with the help of expert pace-making from Roy Hoornweg, Stephen Kissa, andMatthew Ramsden, he set anew world record in the 5000 metres with a time of 12:35.36, which brokeKenenisa Bekele's 16-year-old record – the longest duration in the history of the event – by almost 2 seconds.[23][24] His splits were 2:31.87; 5:03.77; 7:35.14 and 10:05.46. Kenenisa congratulated Cheptegei from Addis Ababa.[9]
At the2024 Olympic Games inParis, Cheptegei won gold in the10,000 metres final, in a newOlympic record of 26:43.14.[31] The former Olympic record wasKenenisa Bekele's 27:01.17 set at the2008 Games inBeijing.[32] Shortly after winning gold in the 10000 meter event, Cheptegei announced on Instagram that he would not be defending his 5000 meter gold medal from Tokyo, citing failure to recover from the race.[33] Cheptegei also hinted that he will not pursue another Olympic Games on the track, and instead focus more on road racing in the future.[34]
Joshua Cheptegei collaborated with theUNDP to participate in theElgon half marathon together with other community activists, some of which includedLanie Banks with the aims of protecting the environment, keeping girls in school and endingGender-based Violence. He urged fellow athletes to help the needy.[46][47][48]
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2019[45]
