Centro de medios de NYRR

At 26 years old, Joshua Cheptegei is already a two-time Olympic and four-time World Championships medalist. He is the reigning Olympic gold medalist in the 5,000 meters and world champion in the 10,000 meters, as well as the world-record holder in both the 5,000 and 10,000 meters, having set both those marks in 2020.

Cheptegei made his World Championships debut at age 17 and Olympic debut at 18. He won his first World Championships medal, a silver over 10,000 meters, in 2017 in London, and the following year won gold in both of his distances at the Commonwealth Games in Australia. He won both the 10 km at the World Cross Country Championships and 10,000 meters at the World Championships in 2019 before going on to win three medals between the Olympics and World Championships the last two seasons.

Cheptegei grew up playing soccer in primary school and tried out the long jump and triple jump before switching to running and discovering that’s where he was most talented. He is the founder of the Joshua Cheptegi Development Foundation, which supports youth education and empowerment, grassroots sports, and sustainability in Uganda.