Cheptegei goes for 5km world record today in Monaco

The World Cross-country and 10,000 meter champion will be making an attempt at a third world record when he runs in the 5km Herculis race. The record stands at 13.22 minutes.

Date of birth: 12 Sept, 1996

Main events: 5000m, 10000m

Personal Bests: 5000m (12:57.41),

10000m (26:48.36)

Coach: Addy Ruiter

Manager: Jurrie van der Velden

Kit Sponsor: Nike

Cheptegei's 2019 Honours: World Cross-country Gold, 5000m Diamond League Trophy and World 10000m Gold

Joshua Cheptegei will on Sunday be seeking a rare triple in the city state of Monaco.

The World Cross-country and 10,000 meter champion will be making an attempt at a third world record when he runs in the 5km Herculis race. The record stands at 13.22 minutes.

Uganda Police coach Benjamin Njia is confident Cheptegei will set a new mark.

“He is on form. That record should fall,” said Njia from Cheptegei’s training area of Kapchorwa.

Cheptegei first rose to world record form in 2018 when he shaved eight seconds off the 15km world record record at the NN ZevenHeuvenloop race in Holland.

Cheptegei goes into Sunday’s race just two months after breaking the 10km road race record in Valencia. He clocked 26 minutes 38 seconds.

Cheptegei's average pace was two minutes and 40 seconds per kilometre in Valencia, passing through 5km in 13 minutes 24 seconds.

"What a year it has been," he said. "I can't believe it.

"I knew that Valencia was going to be a really fast course, one of the fastest in the world. So to get to achieve what we came here for is something really special."

Sunday’s race will be his first competition of a season where he is ultimately eyeing Olympic gold at the Tokyo Games in August.

Cheptegei is the only Ugandan to set three world records.

John Akii-Bua is the only other Ugandan world record holder. Akii-Bua shot into the headlines when he became the first man to run the 400m hurdles under 48 seconds.

He clocked 47.82 seconds to win gold at the 1972 Munich Olympics.