Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda has qualified for the 10000 Olympic Games after placing second in Saturday’s 10k road event in Laredo, Spain.
Cheptegei qualified for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris in a standard time of 27 minutes.
The world long distance runner placed second in 26:53, which was 15 seconds slower than his previous world record of 26:38 achieved in Valencia in December 2019 and his third-quickest time ever to secure his spot in the 10000m Olympic Games.
Yomif Kejelcha of Ethiopia won in a time of 26:37.
In two weeks, Cheptegei will participate again at the World Cross Country Championships in Belgrade.
The three-time world champion in the 10,000 meters is primarily focused on adding the 10,000 meters Olympic gold medal to his collection in 2024, which is why he considers the Paris Games to be crucial.
Gold in the 10,000m was won by Ethiopia’s Selemon Barega against Cheptegei three years prior at the Tokyo Games. But Cheptegei went on to win the gold in the Olympic 5000 meters.
Now, the Ugandan wants to finish his career as an Olympic long-distance track champion.
