Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei held off a fierce Ethiopian campaign to win gold in the men’s Olympic 10,000m at the Stade de France in France.
The three-time world champion won on Friday in an Olympic record time of 26 minutes, 43.14 seconds.
Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi won silver in 26:43.44, beating out American Grant Fisher by 0.2 seconds.
The world record holder added the Olympic 10,000m title to his first track gold medal at the Games.
The Ugandan, who won silver and gold in the 5,000m at the Tokyo Olympics, ran a devastating final 600m, finishing 18 seconds faster than Kenenisa Bekele’s 2008 Olympic record.
Aregawi, who was part of Ethiopia’s three-man leading group from the start, finished strongly.
Thirteen athletes ran the final two-thirds together and, amazingly, they all finished in under 27 minutes.
The first surge came just two laps into the 25-lap race, with defending champion Selemon Barega and Ethiopian team-mate Yomief Kezelcha sprinting out to split the field of competitors.
There were 25 runners competing, but all of them fought to the end.
Following Kezelcha, it was Aregawi’s turn and the Ethiopian trio dictated the pace of the game in front of a raucous 69,000-strong crowd at the Stade de France in perfectly warm weather.
Cheptegei and Jacob Kiplimo saw the team’s strategy suffer as Martin Magengo Kiprotic dropped pace early on.
Aregawi and Kezelcha picked up the pace again by the halfway point, with the main pack now down to 15 men.
Barega was back in the lead with 10 laps remaining, with Canada’s Mohamed Ahmed and Kenya’s Benad Kibet struggling to get in on Kezelcha’s shoulders.
As Cheptegei and Fischer made their way through the crowded crowd, the Kezel car reappeared and gained speed.
Entering the final kilometre, Aregawi took the lead, but the pack of 12 held on tenaciously, promising an exciting finish.
Just before the bell rang indicating the final 400m, Cheptegei sprinted forward and the race to the finish line began.
Ahmed followed, and Fischer, although off pace, made a remarkable recovery to take the medal.
But Barega was not able to strike the decisive blow, and Cheptegei won his first medal event at France’s national stadium.
Barega eventually finished seventh with a time of 26:44.48, just behind Kezelcha, with Ahmed fourth and Kibet fifth.
USA sets new world record in 4x400m mixed relay
On a purple track, the United States broke the world record in the opening 4x400m mixed relay, crossing the finish line in a party-like time of 3:07.41.
They set a previous record of 3:08.80 at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest.
The U.S. team put in a textbook performance, taking the lead midway through the second lap, and then outpacing their faster competitors in the opening lap, breaking four national records along with the world record.
“I always knew we were going to run fast and that we would need a time to win a medal,” said American Shamir Little. “We needed a time to win the preliminaries.”
The French team crossed the finish line to the cheers of an enthusiastic home crowd, beating Belgium (3:10.74) and Jamaica (3:11.06) to take second place in a nearly uncontested event in 3:10.60.
On the first day of athletics at the Stade de France, the crowd chanted for the French team, then roared as France took a narrow lead.
But the U.S. got ahead with Little and Bryce Dedmon extending the lead.
The Americans were hoping to avoid the drama of three years ago when they were disqualified from the Olympic final and then forced to come back after a referee’s mistake, ultimately winning bronze.
