Uganda’s long-distance sensation Jacob Kiplimo has won the 2024 senior men’s title World Cross Country Championship held in Belgrade, Serbia today. Whereas Kiplimo defended the title he won last year, the 2019 champion Joshua Cheptegei finished a distant sixth
To defend his senior men’s World Cross Country Championship title he won last year in Australia, Jacob Kiplimo crossed the finish line in an impressive time of 28 minutes and 09 seconds.
With 24 minutes on the clock, Kiplimo started to make a move. Aregawi who followed Kiplimo home in Bathurst last year also started to make his presence known, moving on to the shoulder of the Ugandan, while Kenya’s 2021 world U20 5000m champion Kiplangat moved into third.
Kiplimo continued to stretch ahead of his opponents on the final lap. With each stride, he was gaining in confidence that he would retain his title.
Aregawi also replicated his finish from Bathurst last year, taking silver again in 28:12. Kiplangat – who was just fourth at the Kenyan Cross Country Championships – held on for bronze in 28:14, but gained gold in the team standings as he was the first of five Kenyan finishers in the top eight.
“It actually feels more exciting to successfully defend my title than to win the first one,” Kiplimo told World Athletics. “But it was also tougher. I came here expecting I could win again, but the field was really strong. The pace was fast, the guys kept pushing it and there was still a big group out in front. It wasn’t until the final three kilometres that I felt I needed to move to the front.”
2019 champion Joshua Cheptegei finished some way out of the individual medals in sixth (28:24), but he earned silver in the team contest.
Ethiopia took team bronze, finishing comfortably ahead of Spain.
With the back-to-back victory, Kiplimo joins an illustrious list of athletes to have successfully defended a world cross-country title including Kenenisa Bekele, Geoffrey Kamworor and Paul Tergat.
Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi, meanwhile, also repeated his finish from the last edition to take silver, while Kenya’s Benson Kiplangat earned a surprise bronze.
With Beatrice Chebet successfully defending her title in the senior women’s race earlier in the day, it’s just the fifth time in history that both the senior men’s and women’s champions have retained their titles at the World Cross Country Championships.
Uganda is represented by 27 athletes at the ongoing championships in Belgrade, Serbia.
