05 July 2023 | Athletics

Reigning Olympic champion and two-time 10,000 m World champion Joshua Cheptegei will give a shot at Marathon after dominating the 5,000m and 10,000m distances.

The 26-year-old revealed the news on his social media platforms where he announced that he intends to run the 42km distance that begins at Pont de Montolivet and ends next to the nearby Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe.

Cheptegei currently holds the Olympic champion title in the 5000 metres and silver medalist for the 10,000 metres also a double winner of the 10,000m World title between 2019 and 2022.

Speaking ahead of the event that will happen on 3 December 2023, he said; "I feel it's time to broaden my horizons. I've been running on the track for 10 years now.

"I've always concentrated on track distances, although I knew that the marathon was waiting for me. It's an ambition I'm really looking forward to, it will be new and challenging.

"For next year, I'll be concentrating on the track at the Paris Olympics, but I hope that my marathon debut will be a good experience and that I'll be able to decide after the Olympics what my next steps will be.

"Valencia is a very special place for me, I've run 2 of my world records there and they organised NN Valencia World Record Day for me back in the Covid days.

"Now they're giving me the opportunity to run my first marathon. I know the track in Valencia and I'm very excited to explore the roads here".

Cheptegei set a new 10 km road race record in Valencia on 1 December 2019, before it was lowered to 26:24, the world record being held, as of October 2020, by Rhonex Kipruto of Kenya.

On 7 October 2020, in Valencia, the Ugandan again set another world record time of 26:11.00 in the 10,000 metres, which improved on Kenenisa Bekele's 15-year-old record by more than 6 seconds.

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