Heartache for Cheptegei
Ugandan athlete Joshua Cheptegei reacts upon completion of a recent race.PHOTO/FILE.
Joshua Cheptegei will need an exceptional 2021 if he is to claim the World Athlete of the Year Award.
This is after he was stunned at the World Athletics Awards for a second year running, this time by Swede vaulter Armand Duplantis.
Duplantis beat Cheptegei and three others; American shot putter Ryan Crouser, German javelin thrower Johannes Vetter and Norwegian 400m hurdler Karsten Warholm to become the youngest ever to claim the gong a virtually held ceremony.
Hurdles ace Warholm finished second while Cheptegei was third after a voting process. But Cheptegei had been almost inch-perfect in 2020 thanks to three world records (WRs) over the 5km, 5000m and 10000m.
However, 21-year-old Duplantis stood out similarly. He beat Frenchman Renaud Lavillenie’s 6.16m indoor WR by a centimetre in Torun, Poland in February. He bettered it to 6.18m at the Indoor Grand Prix Glasgow.
Three months ago, Duplantis broke Sergey Bubka’s 26-year outdoor pole vault WR at the Rome Diamond League Meeting in Italy. Overall, he was undefeated in 16 competitions.
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