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Tokyo Olympics: What you need to know about the Cheptegei, Mo Farah rivalry
Ugandan long distance runner Joshua Cheptegei and the most successful British track athlete in modern Olympic Games history Mo Farah have been bitter rivals for a while.
Unfortunately the duo will not face off at the Tokyo Olympics after Mo Farah failed to qualify falling short by 19 seconds (27:47.04) at the British Championships in Manchester.
We however bring you what you need to know about the rivarly that will be missed on Friday 30 July at the Olympic Stadium.
Mo Farah realized Joshua Cheptegei’s potential when the duo met at the 2017 World Athletics Championships.
Little-known 20-year-old (then) Cheptegei huffed and puffed during 10,000m race at the Olympic Stadium in London to finish second just behind Mo Farah in 26:49:94.
And even though Farah looked completely invincible, he felt the Cheptegei’s was a budding star soon to be seen by the whole world.
In an interview with the Guardian, Farah thought; “Cheptegei is strong. He’s the one coming through.”
Consquently Cheptegei went on to win 5,000m and 10,000m Gold at the 2018 Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in Australia.
To date, the Kapchorwa-based athlete has become a force to reckon with – breaking both the 5,000m and 10,000m world records previously owned by Ethiopian legend Kenenisa Bekele.
Ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, Cheptegei was relishing another challenge with Mo Farah to perhaps prove a point and his hunger was witnessed ahead of last year’s World Half Championships.
A day to the race in which he finished fourth in 59:21 – Kiplimo winning in a championship record time of 58:49, Cheptegei expressed shock at Mo Farah’s decision not to race at the weekend.
“I thought we would have a more exciting field,” he said.
“Like, of course, we have the Kenyans, we have the Ethiopians, but still I was surprised — and I’m still surprised — why Mo Farah is not part of the field…It’s quite really ridiculous that he’s not in the field.”
With years much spent for Mo Farah, Cheptegei might have used just one extra-win over the Brit to claim legendary status over the 10,000m distance.
