By Spy Uganda
Double Olympic champion Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda has won the Cannes 10k road race on Sunday with a new World-leading and French all-comers record.
Cheptegei, who won an Olympic 5,000m gold and a 10,000m in Tokyo last summer, took the victory at Cannes 10Km in 26 minutes and 49 seconds.
Speaking after the marathon, Cheptegei said, “Happy to see where I stand. It’s great to start my season with a World Lead. This gives me confidence for my track season.”
Cannes 10K event is a sports event that was established in 1999 and is highly competitive given the huge volumes of top athletes it attracts annually and this weekend, the Uganda monster was one of them.
The last time the Kapchorwa born international was in action in France, he set a new world road 5 km record of 12:51, breaking through the Monaco event’s 13 minute barrier, taking 9 seconds. He saw off Kenya’s Sammy Kipketer bragging rights earned way back in 2000.
In August 2020, at the Monaco Diamond League Meet, he broke his own 12:51 record by setting a new one of 12:35, breaking Bekele’s 16-year-old world record of 12:37.
