Kiplimo arrives at grand stage with World Half-Marathon title

It was not Joshua Cheptegei’s day but certainly Uganda’s after teenager Jacob Kiplimo stunned the field to win the men’s race at the World Half-Marathon Championships in Gdynia, Poland, on Saturday.
Uganda has risen fast in the conversation of long-distance running, thanks to world 10000m champion Cheptegei’s four world records (WR) in the last 10 months.
But the day in the northern Polish city belonged to his younger counterpart Kiplimo, who won his first senior title in style over the 21km distance.
He conquered the 5km looped-course around at the renowned Kosciuszki Square and near the Baltic Sea to beat a field of 117 men with a championship and national record time of 58min and 49sec.
“I’m happy I have run my PB (personal best) and a championship record. The course was really good, I enjoyed,” a thrilled Kiplimo said in the post-race interview.
The wunderkind, who turns 20 next month, had received the national flag at the finish-line from coach Benjamin Njia before getting a bear hug from Cheptegei, who came home in fourth.
This, however, is Kiplimo’s second medal in the senior ranks after his silver behind Cheptegei in the men’s 10km race during the World Cross-country Championships in Aarhus, Denmark, on March 30, 2019.
After Aarhus, Kiplimo won the Manchester Run but was sidelined with a muscle problem that forced him out of Doha World Championships only to return and finish second at the Corrida International 15K in Sao Paolo, Brazil, on New Year’s Eve.
And by the time he won the 5000m at the Ostrava Golden Spike in Czech Republic and the 3000m race at the Rome Diamond League in a space of nine days last month, Kiplimo had been away from track for 26 months.
But Saturday’s win, worth $30,000 (Shs112m), Aarhus delight and his junior 6km gold at the 2017 World Cross-country Championships in Kololo appear to show that Kiplimo is an expert on the road.
“To me, I run all the races but my favourite is on the road. I’m still young, I have to focus for the track, we have the Olympics next year,” the youngster said during the news conference after the medal ceremony where Uganda had also secured a men’s team bronze.
Tense race
Prior, all attention had been on world 10000m champion Cheptegei who had only set the 10000m WR 10 days earlier in Valencia, Spain, the leaders exchanged places more than seven times.
Kiplimo was therein and did little to attract any attention. He cleared the 5km mark in 12th place and Cheptegei was 24th, both timed at 14:20. 
Their main Kenyan challenger Kandie Kibiwott kicked in the gear but Cheptegei led the peleton of 23 through the 10km stage around the Baltic Sea at 28min and 23sec.
Again, Kibiwott upped the ante and the speed split thinned the group and to just 12 approaching the 15km stage at 42min and 17sec.  Kiplimo was fifth.
The teenager suddenly took over and for a while, kept looking over his shoulder for Cheptegei, who by now had fallen about 80m behind as Ethiopian Amedework Walelegn closed in too.
“Just last week, he (Cheptegei) ran a world record for Uganda. After seeing the men had remained behind, I started to focus for the medal,” Kiplimo said.
Around 19km, Kibiwott appeared to regain his lead but Kiplimo, who lost to the Kenyan at the finish-line in Sao Paulo, did not concur to the same script.
Kiplimo surged again, this time with fluidity through his white shoes, and he did not look back until the blue tape for Uganda’s first individual medal at the championship.
“I knew the medal would be mine in the last 5km. You know I was feeling strong, the last kilometre, I knew it was mine.”
Kibiwott scooped silver 58min and 54sec and Walelegn in third place with 59min and 8sec while Cheptegei posted 59min and 21sec.