Kiplimo soul searching

Joshua Cheptegei won the men’s 10000-metre gold medal there nine days before Peruth Chemutai pocketed the women’s 3000-metre steeplechase silver on Tuesday.

While some glasses are full, Jacob Kiplimo feels his is half or near empty. The 23-year-old departs Paris without a medal after finishing eighth in the 25-lap final before opting out of the men’s 5000-metre race.

“It happens,” Kiplimo told this paper in a brief exchange less than 24 hours after the 10000-metre race. He had posted a time of 26 minutes and 46.39 seconds despite being in the top three places coming into the final bend.

But Kiplimo had suffered impactful physical contact during the charged race. “I believe there were some challenges in the race that did not work in his favour, especially some boxing with the Ethiopian guy, of course Kejelcha (Yomif of Ethiopia),” Cheptegei reacted to Kiplimo’s performance.

“So that actually tampered with his movement and motion. And that could have changed the whole thing for him,” Cheptegei said of Kiplimo. “I always believe that the race can be anybody’s chance to win but sometimes in a race, some things don’t go our way.”

This marked the first time that Kiplimo had departed a major championship without a medal since the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in Australia.

“Sport is a teacher,” he reacted in a social media post. “The final results are difficult to accept, I’m honest. I came here to fight for the victory as every athlete wants to win the Olympic gold.

“In one of the deepest 10000m in a championships race, I couldn’t show what I trained for the whole year. Of course the eighth place doesn’t make me happy but it's a sport and sport is like a teacher.

Congrats Joshua to have brought the gold to Uganda. Thanks to everyone that supported me, we are not done!” Kiplimo added. And he will be soul searching for some time.

On the road, the conversation remains that he is potent enough to run the marathon under two hours. Kiplimo already holds the 21km world record at 57 minutes and 31 seconds and he also won the 21km race during the last editions of World Half-Marathon Championships in Gdynia, Poland in 2020.

The expectations for Paris were high especially after Kiplimo retained his senior men’s 10km title during the World Athletics Cross-country Championships in Belgrade, Serbia back in March.

Many individuals acknowledge his talent is phenomenal but on track, Kiplimo has not realized his full potential despite a glitzy medal cabinet.

Last August missed the Budapest World Athletics Championships in Hungary due to an acute injury problem. The same, a muscular problem in the leg, cost Kiplimo and he missed the Doha Worlds in Qatar five years ago.

At the Oregon 2022 Worlds in the USA, Kiplimo won a 10000-metre bronze, as it were at the Tokyo 2020 Games in Japan the summer before.

After Paris, Cheptegei ended his dominance on track and it is public secret that he passed on the mantle to Kiplimo. Perhaps, it explains why many Uganda did not understand why Kiplimo opted out of the men’s 5000-metre race.

Sources understand that Kiplimo couldn’t come to terms with his medal miss over the longer distance in Paris and rather let it all go albeit body constraints.

It inevitably leaves him hungry to fill up Cheptegei’s shoes on track but that will take meticulous calculations and strategy for the runner’s body.

Cheptegei delivered a more traditional long-distance running career where he focused more on track and minimal times on the road over the half-marathon and full-marathon. 

That is a path previously taken by Ethiopian great Kenenisa Bekele and Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge. Actually, Cheptegei has only run two 21km races and one marathon while Kiplimo has run seven half-marathons since 2019.

Kiplimo is already lined-up by his Italian management Rosa Associati for the Copenhagen Half-Marathon in Denmark on September 15. In case he is to dominate on track, Kiplimo and his manager Federico Rosa will need to be more intentional.

He is only 23 and by the Los Angeles 2028 Games in the USA, Kiplimo has enough time to add to his Commonwealth double from the Birmingham 2022 Games in England and grow into a track beast over the 5000 metres and 10000 metres.

Of course, he will battle Ethiopian Berihu Aregawi, with whom they share a management. Aregawi, who won the silver medal behind Cheptegei in Paris, has twice finished behind Kiplimo at the World Cross-country Championships in 2023 and 2024.

Kiplimo will face further scrutiny from other Ethiopians Selemon Barega and Yomif Kejelcha as well as Kenyans Jacob Krop, Nicholas Kipkorir and American Grant Fisher going forward.

At 5000-metre level, there is also Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Ethiopian Hagos Gebrhiwet, Spaniard Mohammed Katir and Guatemalan Luis Grijalva among others.

KIPLIMO AT A GLANCE

Date of birth: November 14, 2000

Major events: 5000m, 10000m

Coach: Iacorpo Brasi

Personal Bests: 7:26.64 (3000m), 12:40.96 (5000m), 26:33.93 (10000m)

Manager: Federico Rosa

Management: Rosa Associati

KIPLIMO AT MAJOR CHAMPIONSHIPS

2024 Paris Olympics: 4th (10000m Final)

2024 World Cross-country: 1st (Senior Men’s 10km) 

2023 World Cross-country: 1st (Senior Men’s 10km) 

2022 Commonwealth Games: 1st (5000m Final)

2022 Commonwealth Games: 1st (10000m Final)

2022 Eugene World Champs: 3rd (10000m Final)

2020 Tokyo Olympics: 5th (5000m Final)

2020 Tokyo Olympics: 3rd (10000m Final)

2020 World Half-Marathon Champs: 1st (Men’s 21km)

2019 World Cross-country: 2nd (Senior Men’s 10km)

2018 World Jnr Champs: 2nd (10000m), 6th (5000m)

2018 Commonwealth Games: 4th (10000m)

2017 London World Champs: 22nd (10000m Heats)

2017 World Cross-country: 1st (Junior Men’s 8km)

2016 Rio Olympics: 26th (5000m Heats)

2016 World Jnr Champs: 3rd (10000m)

UGANDA’S MEDALS AT OLYMPICS

1968 Mexico City: Eridadi Mukwanga (Bantamweight Silver)

1968 Mexico City: Leo Rwabwogo (Flyweight Bronze)

1972 Munich: John Akii-Bua (400m Hurdles Gold)

1972 Munich: Leo Rwabwogo (Flyweight Silver)

1980 Moscow: John Mugabi (Welterweight Silver)

1996 Atlanta: Davis Kamoga (400m Bronze)

2012 London: Stephen Kiprotich (Marathon Gold)

2020 Tokyo: Joshua Cheptegei (10000m Silver)

2020 Tokyo: Jacob Kiplimo (10000m Bronze)

2020 Tokyo: Peruth Chemutai (3000m Steeplechase Gold)

2020 Tokyo: Joshua Cheptegei (5000m Gold)

2024 Paris: Joshua Cheptegei (10000m Gold)

2024 Paris: Peruth Chemutai (3000m Steeplechase Silver)