Ugandan athletes Joshua Cheptegei and Jacob Kiplimo paired up Friday to to win Silver and Bronze medals respectively.
This was Uganda’s first ever double medals in the Olympics men’s 10000m final.
Cheptegei put up a spirited last minute run to catch up with the eventual men’s 10000m final winner Ethiopian Selemon Barega.
Barega, 21, timed his last-lap sprint to perfection to win the first athletics gold of the Games in 27min 43.22sec.
Cheptegei claimed silver in 27:43.63 with teammate Jacob Kiplimo taking bronze in 27:43.88.
Uganda registered its maiden medals at the summer games.
Another Ugandan, Stephen Kissa pulled out of the race just over 19 minutes for reasons yet to be known.
The race, too, was a strange affair, with Uganda’s Stephen Kissa storming into a huge early lead before dropping out with nine laps to go.
“It was a sacrifice for the team. We had a plan for me to go ahead to make it a fast race,” Kissa later explained to reporters.
“I thought they (Cheptegei and Kiplimo) were going to follow me but when I looked round they were not there.”
“We were planning for the gold but unfortunately we have a silver and bronze.”
“But I’m happy. We have two medals. Maybe next time someone else will sacrifice themselves for me.”
Barega’s previous best result of his career was a silver medal in the 5,000m at the 2019 World Athletics Championships.
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