![sports-logo](https://sports.mtn.co.ug/wp-content/themes/mtn-vivid-sports/assets/images/sports-logo.png"){kind=logo}
Athletics
Netball
About MTN Sports
Cycling
Golf
More Sports
Newsroom
Rugby
As the 2020 Tokyo Olympics Games continue in Japan, we take a closer look at Stephen Kissa’s profile, a Ugandan long distance runner.
Name: Stephen Kissa
Age: 25
Gender: Male
Place of birth: Kampala
Birth Country: Uganda
Background: Kissa was raised the eldest of five siblings in the small village of Sosho, just 5km from Kapchorwa. He started his athletics journey at high school, inspired to run by former World and Olympic marathon champion Stephen Kiprotich and double Commonwealth gold medallist Moses Kipsiro. From high school he joined the police club. In 2013 he placed a solid fifth in the steeplechase at the Ugandan Championships. Later joining the prisons club and offered a job as a prison guard proved a turning point in his career.
Highlights: Kissa finished 52nd at the 2017 World Cross Country Championships before featuring at the 2017 World Championships 5000 metres without reaching the final. The next year he finished 8th in the 5000 metres at the 2018 African Championships. His personal best time is 13:10.93 minutes, that he achieved in July 2018 at Athletissima in Lausanne. He has 7:54.32 minutes in the 3000 metres, achieved in July 2018 in Rabat. He won his last race of 2018 at the 15 kilometres roadrace Montferland Run in the Netherlands. Kissa has also made half marathon his niche, making two podium finishes in 2019. The last time he ran the 10,000m was at the 2020 NN Valencia World Record Day, Estadio de Atletismo del Turia where he finished 4th in 27:34:48.
2020 Tokyo Olympics Participation;
Men’s 10,000m Final
Date and Time: Fri 30 July (2:30pm EAT)
Venues: Olympic Stadium
Ugandan female middle-distance runner Halimah Nakaayi has lauded coach Addy Ruiter’s expertise as she prepares to represent the country at the Olympics in July.
Nakaayi is working to get herself in fine shape ahead of the women’s 800m events at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium.
Talking up her preparations, the world champion highlighted the importance of teamwork while praising Ruiter’s contribution.
“Teamwork is very important, thanks to coach Addy Ruiter for the wonderful training sessions, may the almighty Allah answer our prayers,” she tweeted.
Nakaayi is training with fellow Olympics-bound Ugandan runners Ronald Musagala (1500m) as well as the 10,000m and 5000m world record holder Joshua Cheptegei.
Long-distance runner Joshua Cheptegei is carrying the hopes of more than 40 million Ugandans for the country’s third Olympic title when the Tokyo Games get underway at the end of July 2021.
Kiprotich, Akii-Bua surprises
The man from Kapchorwa will seal his status as the country’s greatest sportsman ever should he win the 10000m final race on July 30. It could be a very special feat in comparison to those that came before.
When Stephen Kiprotich powered to marathon gold on the final day of the London Olympics on August 12, 2012, the sweet gift came largely as a big surprise to the Ugandan population.
This was Uganda’s first Olympic title in 40 years since John Akii-Bua had also stunned the world to the 400m hurdles glory during the 1972 Munich Games in Germany.
Akii-Bua then became the first man ever in history to run that race under 48 seconds when he won in a world record time of 47.82 seconds on September 2, 1972.
Cheptegei man to watch
Those two moments are the major highlights of Uganda’s Olympic journey which dates back to Melbourne 1956. But never in history has a Ugandan gone in for an Olympic event as the favourite.
However, Cheptegei will be the man to watch when a field of 28 men from 17 countries lines up on the maroon track at the Tokyo National Stadium.
For a man who has given it his all since impressing with second place at the 2014 Bangalore TCS World 10K in Bengaluru, India, this will be Cheptegei’s most important career race yet.
The 24-year-old is eyeing Olympic gold over the 25-lap distance to add to his world title in the Japanese capital.
Painful wait for Tokyo
He painfully had to wait a whole year for this moment to come. The coronavirus pandemic forced the postponement of these quadrennial Games from last July.
And after, Japan had to withstand the storm from critics, health experts and the audible temptations to cancel the Games. But here we are!
Cheptegei is the face among Uganda’s 25 representatives across four disciplines that is primed to boss the Tokyo stage.
When the International Olympic Committee bowed to Covid-19 to postpone the Games last year, Cheptegei didn’t cry over spilled milk.
World records uplift profile
He instead chose to keep his head up and raised his profile by breaking Ethiopian great Kenenisa Bekele’s world records over the 5000m and 10000m.
Cheptegei, who had earlier secured the 5km world record at the Monaco Herculis Run, lowered Bekele’s 16-year-old mark over the 12-and-a-half lap race by almost two seconds to 12 minutes and 35.36 seconds at the Monaco Diamond League in France last August.
Then 54 days later, Cheptegei again dethroned his idol Bekele, this time breaking the 15-year-old 10000m world record by 6.53 seconds to 26 minutes and 11.00 seconds during the NN Running World Record Day in Valencia, Spain.
Missing Olympic medal
At this moment, Cheptegei holds those world records, the world 10000m title, the World Cross-country gold, and the Commonwealth long-distance double.
No Ugandan has ever scaled these and Cheptegei’s cabinet doesn’t have the Olympic gold. He is gunning for it.
Yet, whereas he’s the favourite over the 10000m and also planning to double over the 5000m event in Tokyo, Cheptegei also knows the bitter side of sport – defeat.
He was left crestfallen when he was relegated to social media banter after he shockingly withered from first to finish a distant 30th during the senior men’s race at the World Cross-country Championships in front of Ugandans led by President Yoweri Museveni at Kololo on March 26, 2017.
Now a ruthless beast
That mishap may have humbled Cheptegei but, for just a moment. The lessons learnt from that failure have instead shaped him to a pretty tough long-distance beast.
He responded by scooping 10000m silver behind Great Britain’s Mo Farah at the London World Championships in England later that year before winning the 5000m and 10000m double at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in 2018.
Then in 2019, he crushed the Kololo demons to win the Cross-country title in Aarhus, Denmark before upgrading the London show to win 10000m gold inside the Khalifa Stadium during the Doha World Championships in Qatar.
He would finish the year also with the 5000m Diamond League trophy as well as the 10km world record in Valencia.
Cheptegei is currently the global face of track long-distance running and even if he struggled in the last two laps of the 5000m to lose his lead and finish sixth at the Rome Diamond League in Florence, Italy on June 10, he remains upbeat.
Strong field awaits
He is backed by Dutch management Global Sports Communication, the group which has produced several Olympic champions including Bekele, another Ethiopian Haile Gebrselassie, and Kenyan Eliud Kipchoge among others.
Coached by Dutch man Addy Ruiter in Kapchorwa, Cheptegei wants to walk into the footsteps of these men and he is not shy about saying that he wants to become the greatest athlete ever.
Such profiles are made of Olympic delight and it is what is on his mind. He will however need to beat the field which comprises troublesome Ethiopians Yomif Kejelcha, Selemon Barega and Berihu Aregawi.
Cheptegei only peeled away from Kejelcha in the final 150m to win gold in Doha. Then, there is also a Kenyan trio which has three-time World Half-Marathon champion Geoffrey Kamworor.
In his race notes with Ruiter, Cheptegei has not spared his counterpart Jacob Kiplimo who is ranked as the world number one over the 10000m race.
Kiplimo, who scooped the 21km world title back in Gdynia, Poland last October, won the 10000m race at the Ostrava Golden Spike Meeting in Czech Republic in a time of 26:33.93, the seventh fastest ever.
Other familiar foes in Cheptegei’s way include Canadian Ahmed Mohammed who took silver medals behind him three years ago on the Gold Coast in Queensland, Australia.
Swiss Julien Wanders and Eritrean Aron Kifle also present formidable challenges.
CHEPTEGEI PROFILE
Date of birth: September 12, 1996
Major Races: 5000m, 10000m
Personal Bests: 5000m (12:35.36), 10000m (26:11.00)
Coach: Addy Ruiter
Manager: Jurrie van der Velden
CHEPTEGEI’S PERSONAL BESTS
TRACK
1500m: 3:37.82 (Nijmegen 2016)
3000m: 7:33.24 (Ostrava 2021)
2-mile: 8:07.54 NR (Stanford 2019)
5000m: 12:35.36 WR (Monaco 2020)
10000m: 26:11.00 WR (Valencia 2020)
ROAD
5km: 12:51 WR (Monaco 2020)
10km: 26:38 NR (Valencia 2019)
15km: 41:05 WR (Nijmegen 2018)
Denotes: NR – National Record, WR – World Record, WB – World Best, Personal Best – PB
LAST 11 RACES FOR CHEPTEGEI
2021
Feb 14: 1st Monaco Run
Apr 24: 3rd 1500m UAF Trials
May 19: 1st 3000m Ostrava Golden Spike
Jun 10: 6th 5000m Rome DL Meeting
2020
Feb 16: 5K World Record
Aug 14: 5000m World Record
Oct 7: 10000m World Record
Oct 17: 4th World Half-Marathon Champs
2019
Dec 1: 10K World Record
Oct 6: World 10000m Gold
Aug 29: 5000m Diamond League Trophy
CHEPTEGEI AT MAJOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
2014 World Junior Champs 4th, 5000m (13:32.84)
2014 World Junior Champs 1st, 10000m (28:32.86)
2014 African Champs DNF, 10000m (DNF)
2015 African Junior Champs 1st, 10000m (29:58.70)
2015 World Champs Beijing 9th, 10000m (27:48.89)
2016 Olympic Games Rio 8th, 5000m (13:09.17)
2016 Olympic Games Rio 6th, 10000m (27:10.06)
2017 World Cross-country 30th, Senior race (30:08)
2017 World Champs 2nd, 10000m (26:49.94)
2018 Commonwealth Games Gold Coast 1st, 5000m (13:50.83)
2018 Commonwealth Games Gold Coast 1st, 10000m (27:19.62)
2019 World Cross-country Champs 1st, 10km (31:40)
2019 World Champs Doha 1st, 10000m (26:48.36)
Long-distance runner Joshua Cheptegi is among the athletes that will represent Uganda at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo that start this month.
The world champion who holds both the 5000m and 10000m world records goes into the games as the top medal hopeful for Uganda.
Cheptegei, through his social media, says he’s proud to represent the country at the prestigious event.
Cheptegei thanked his sponsors including MTN Uganda with whom he signed a year-long sponsorship deal in February this year.
Cheptegei will take the track of the Olympic Stadium on Friday 30th July in search of the 10000m gold. The 5000m events are scheduled for Tuesday, August 3rd (Round 1) and Friday, 6th August (Final) with all races to be run during the evening session.
Ugandan middle-distance runner Halimah Nakaayi broke the women’s 800m national record while setting a personal best at the EBS Herculis meeting of the Diamond League in Monaco.
Nakaayi posted 1:58.03 to make 7th place behind British winner Laura Muir (1:56.73) and compatriot first runner up Reekie Jemma (1:56.96).
The race was executed at a very high pace with five athletes registering personal bests (PB); Laura, Jemma, Nakaayi, fourth-placed USA’s Grace Kate, and France’s Lamote Renelle.
Meanwhile, Winnie Nanyondo, another Ugandan runner at the meet, finished fourth in the 1500m race that was won by Kenyan star Faith Kipyegon.
Kipyegon upstaged world champion Sifan Hassan who led the race behind the pacemaker from the beginning by kicking hard in the final straight to overtake her. Kipyegon ran 3:51.07, a Kenyan record and the fourth-fastest time in history. Hassan finished runner up in 3:53.60, with Freweyni Hailu third in a personal best of 3:56.28.
Nakaayi has impressed for Uganda – winning gold in the 800m at the 2019 World Athletics Championships, Nanyondo also claiming 800m bronze at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
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.
Ugandan long distance runner Joshua Cheptegei feels luck wasn’t on his side as he finished a distant sixth at the 2021 Diamond League meet in Florence, Italy on Thursday.
Cheptegei was in pole position to claim the race but ran out of steam in the final split of the race to pave way for wintner 20-year old Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigsten.
The Kapchorwa-based star took control of the 5000m race through three splits (2000m, 3000m, and 4000m) but relinquished victory in the final stretch.
The Kapchorwa-based athlete posted a season’s best of 12:54.69 but couldn’t come close to Jakob’s 12:48:45 – a European record, also the fastest run this year.
Speaking after the race, Cheptegei said there is room for better performances for the Silverback after the tough outing in Florence.
“Yesterday was not my day. But the Silverback will keep on fighting towards the Olympics in Tokyo!!! Huge congratulations to Jakob Ingebrigtsen for your amazing European Record,” he wrote on social media.
The race was the 10,000m world record holder’s last race before the Tokyo Olympics set for July 23 to 8 August.
Ugandan female sprinter Sida Leni is happy about her performance after after she ran a season’s best at the World Athletics Continental tour in Geneva on Saturday.
Leni clocked 51.81 to cross the tape sixth place and even though her time is still short of the Olympic qualification mark for the women’s 400m (51.35), she said she was impressed by her new milestone.
Moments after the race, Leni shared on her Instagram page; “Happy with my progress here in Geneva. A season’s best of 51.81 – still chasing the Olympic standard, getting closer.
She added; “I will keep giving it everything as I go for my dreams. Thanks for having me at your amazing meeting @atleticageneve.”
For Shida to qualify for the Tokyo Olympics, she will need to display a better performance than that of the 400m Silver Medal (51.64) at the 2019 World University Games held in Naples, Italy.
Ugandan long distance runner Joshua Cheptegei has vowed to keep fighting as he approaches the Tokyo Olympic Games.
The Kapchorwa-based athlete was talking up his fortunes after finishing a distant sixth at the 2021 Diamond League meet in Italy.
The 10,000m world record holder ran a 5000m race but got too exhausted to finish strong as expected, relinquishing victory to 20-year old Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigsten.
Cheptegei posted a season’s best of 12:54.69 while Jakob ran 12:48:45 – a European record, also the fastest run this year.
Speaking after the race, Cheptegei said; “Yesterday was not my day. But the Silverback will keep on fighting towards the Olympics in Tokyo!!!
He added; “Huge congratulations to Jakob Ingebrigtsen for your amazing European Record.”
The race was the 2019 Doha World Championships gold medallist’s last race before the Tokyo Olympics set for July 23 to 8 August.
Joshua Cheptegei ran his final race prior to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games next month.
The 5000m world record holder took on a competitive field over that distance during the third meeting of the 2021 Diamond League in Florence, Italy on Thursday night.
Cheptegei ran ahead after the first kilometer, took charge of the next three splits (2000m, 3000m, and 4000m) and looked on course for a routine victory but fell off in the final couple of laps to finish in 6th place.
He clocked 12:54.69 as Norwegian Jakob Ingebrigsten won the race with a world-leading, a Personal Best and a European Record of 12:48.45.
Ethiopia’s Hagos Gebrhiwet came second with a time of 12:49.02, followed by Ahmed Mohamed (Canada), Katir Mohamed (Spain) and Knight Justyn (Canada) in what was a fast race.
Meanwhile, two other Ugandans took the track on the night.
Winnie Nanyondo, despite failing to break the four-minute barrier, ran her season-best in the 1500m crossing the finish line in 4:00.84, good enough for fifth place while in the Men’s 3000m steeplechase, Albert Chemutai’s season-best 8:23.96 placed him 10th.