Oscar Chelimo Bags Bronze Medal, Cheptegei Finishes Distantly in WAC 5000M

Posted by: Eninu William in Athletics July 25, 2022

Uganda’s Oscar Chelimo has bagged Uganda’s third medal in the ongoing World Athletics Championship in Oregon, USA. Chelimo who had impressed in the heats prior to qualifying posted a time of 13:10:20.

This has been his best personal time ever. Norwegian Olympic gold medal winner Jakob Ingebrigtsen bagged gold in this 5000m with a time of 13:09:24.

Kenya’s Jacob Krop settled for silver at 13:09.98 with Chelimo in third.

A shocking surprise for Ugandans also lined up in this race as Joshua Cheptegei finished a distant 9th.

After winning gold in the 10,000m, he was expected to put up an electrifying performance in this category. Cheptegei had a time of 13:13.12.

However, fatigue could be blamed for Cheptegei’s low performance in this category. He however still holds the world records for both the 10,000m and 5000m.

Hearty congratulations are already flooding social media pages for the duo. And although Cheptegei didn’t put up an impressive performance, he’s been thanked.

Ugandns seems to have learnt a lesson after writing him off after the 2017 athletics in Kololo. Despite the heavy criticism, Cheptegei bounced back and instead wrote off the critics.

“Hearty congratulations Oscar Chelimo. That was a well-earned medal. Congratulations too to you @joshuacheptege1. Only a champion like you could have run both 10k and 5k. Team Uganda did us really proud. #WorldAthleticsChamps,” ANT president Mugisha Muntu tweeted.

“Congratulations, Oscar Chelimo & @joshuacheptege1, thank you all for raising the Pearl of Africa’s flag High,” said the NRM.

Chelimo is only 20 years old and has previously been training in Italy. He’s the younger brother to another Ugandan athlete, Jacob Kiplimo. He’s described as one with a great future ahead of him in the world of athletics.

Meanwhile Uganda finished 16th on a log of 192 countries that participated in the competition. This is after bagging 3 medals, one gold, one silver and another bronze.

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