Cheptegei seals third World Record after ratification
On Top Of The World. Joshua Cheptegei
Despite missing out on the Male World Athlete of the Year gong, Joshua Cheptegei will celebrate Christmas a rather delighted man after World Athletics ratified his 10000m world record (WR).
The Ugandan long-distance runner broke Ethiopian great Kenenisa Bekele’s mark over the 25-lap distance by more than six seconds to 26 minutes and 11 seconds at the NN Valencia World Record Day in Spain on October 7.
“I wanted to show the sports lovers of the world that the track is exciting,” said Cheptegei after that feat, his third WR in 2020.
But the ratification process has taken more than two months. This is the criteria that is used to verify the conditions of the athlete, facility and weather where a WR has been made.
These include; standard dimensions of the track and equipment used to measure the time for the runner, case in point Cheptegei.
And bar in road events, the performance must be set in a single-sex race, with the sole exception of the mixed-sex 4 × 400 m relay, introduced by World Athletics in 2017. Then, pacemakers can aid an athlete to a WR and it can be ratified only if they have not been lapped as the lapped athletes must give way.
In Valencia, pace makers led by Kenyan Nicholas Kipkorir took Cheptegei through the first half of the race in 13:07.73 and Kipkorir finished second in 27:12.98.
Also, an athlete who makes the WR must do drug testing immediately after the performance.
There is no restriction on altitude; since the thinner atmosphere of higher altitude provides less air resistance, locations such as Mexico City and Sestriere have previously been the sites of records in the sprint and jump events.
And in running events up to 800m in distance, photo finish fully automatic timing is required.
CHEP’S PERSONAL BESTS
1500m: 3:37.82 (2016)
3000m: 7:33.26 (2019)
Two Miles: 8:07.54 (2019) NR
5000m: 12:35.36 (2020) WR
10000m: 26:11.00 (2020) WR
5km: 12:51 (2020) WR
10km: 26:38 (2019) NR
15km: 41:05 (2018) WB
10M: 45:15 (2018) NR
21km: 59:21 (2020) PB
