Birmingham, 4 August 2022 (TDI): Uganda’s 21-year-old long-distance runner Jacob Kiplimo won gold at the men’s 10,000m race at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham.

He finished the 10,000m final race in 27 minutes, 9.19 seconds to beat fellow Ugandan Joshua Cheptegei’s 10,000m record.

Uganda’s Unbeaten Run

By achieving this feat, Jacob Kiplimo continued Uganda’s unbeaten run since the Commonwealth games in 2006 at Melbourne. He secured a second gold medal for Uganda at the ongoing 2022 Commonwealth games at Birmingham.

On Kiplimo’s victory in the commonwealth games, Uganda’s first lady and Minister for Sports and Education, Janet K Museveni, said, “ I commend you, Jacob Kiplimo, for the discipline and perseverance you exhibited in the Men’ 10,000m race. I, and the entire nation, congratulate you on this truly monumental achievement!”

Joshua Cheptegi Backs Kiplimo

Earlier, World Champion from Uganda Joshua Cheptegei missed out on Commonwealth Games 2022 due to illness. Thus, it left Kiplimo alone to face the three-man challenge in the race. However, Cheptegei had backed Kiplimo to perform well at the Commonwealth games 2022.

In his absence, Kiplimo upped his game and performed to expectations.

With three laps to go in the men’s 10,000m race final, Uganda’s Kiplimo was pushing for the gold with only Kenya’s Daniel Ebenyo for company. Shoulder-to-shoulder entering the final bend, he out-sprinted Kenya’s athlete with an accelerating final kick after the bell.

After winning the gold Jacob Kiplimo told the journalists, “ I think for me winning this Commonwealth games title was everything, the most important thing for me this season. But I still have to do a lot of things in the future at the Olympics and world championships.”

Kenyans occupied the other two spots on the podium with Ebenyo securing silver along with Kandie who secured bronze. Also, Jacob Kiplimo won bronze at the 2022 World Athletics Championship in the United States of America (USA).

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