In the first medal event of the Paris Olympic track and field slate, Joshua Cheptegei of Uganda won gold with an Olympic record time of 26:43.14.
After taking silver in the Tokyo Olympic 10,000m, Cheptegei is now an Olympic gold medalist in his signature event, and he’s accomplished it in style. Cheptegei already held the world record in this event, which he set in 2020, and now he’s secured the Olympic record, too. The 27-year-old has become the most decorated Olympian in Uganda’s history with three medals — he also won 5000m gold in Tokyo.
“I can’t describe the feeling,” Cheptegei said. “I’ve wanted this for a long time. When I took silver in Tokyo, I was disappointed. I wanted just to win the 10,000m. It was worth the wait.”
Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi kicked hard in the final 20 meters to burst into silver medal position. After finishing fourth at the Tokyo Games, where he missed a medal by 2.28 seconds, Aregawi finally mounts an Olympic podium.
For American fans, the main draw in this race was 27-year-old Grant Fisher, who has earned his first Olympic medal with a 10,000m bronze. Fisher survived a mid-race stumble to earn the medal and become just the second American man in 58 years to reach the podium this event. Only Galen Rupp, who took silver in 2012, has done so since 1964.
“From the first lap, the crowd was screaming,” Fisher said. “I couldn’t hear anything the entire race.
The 10,000m doesn’t get a lot of love sometimes, but that crowd made it feel like we were the best show in town.
Fisher will also compete in the 5000m, which begins on Wednesday.
“As I’ve been in the game longer, I get a bit more validated that I belong in these positions,” Fisher added. “I was 100% focused on the race. When you know your preparation is good, all you’ve got to do is just execute it. There are so many things that go into today. Ultimately, this is the fun part.”
Fisher’s race was almost derailed in the final few laps when he stepped on the guardrail and nearly tumbled. Fisher lost some ground but promptly sped back up to wrangle his way back into medal contention.
“I just got bumped around a little bit and almost went down,” he said. “Thankfully, I didn’t fall, stayed up, just had to refocus.
“It was certainly a little rattling. I spent the whole race defending a position, and to just have it go like that, it doesn’t feel great. But what can you do? It’s a 10,000m, you can make a few mistakes and still recover.”
Fellow Americans Nico Young and Woody Kincaid finished 12th and 16th, respectively.
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