by Larry Eder
Look, I love the 10,000m. It began when I first ran one at West Valley College in July 1976 with Danny Grimes and Bob Lucas. Homer Latimer won that one in 32:11. Homer was the coach at Leigh High School and an iconic runner in the area. I fell in love with the 25-lapper. My next was at the Martin Luther King Games at Stanford University in April 1980. I ran 33:20, a PB of three minutes and 33 seconds! In that race, I was lapped by Danny Grimes, Duncan McDonald, Jim Schenkel, and Danny Aldridge, I believe, at least twice. Danny Grimes and Schenkel, I think, lead several men in under 29 minutes. The next day, we watched Frank Shorter and Stan Mavis run around 28:44 for the 10,000m. Duncan came back the following day and ran a near four-minute mile!
Watching the greats, like Frank Shorter and Lasse Viren, run, and the modern greats, like Haile Gebreselassie and Kenenisa Bekele, was always exciting for me. In fact, the most brutal 10,000m I have ever witnessed was in the Stade de France in August 2003. My modest racing over the 25 lappers allowed me to truly appreciate the speed of my heroes, sports icons, over the years.
Watching Tirunesh Dibaba run 10,000m was pretty awesome. On several occasions in watching Dibaba race 25 lappers over her career, I wondered if she would break. It just did not happen. She was a beast monster. I loved her wins in Beijing 2008 and London 2012, but she showed real guts in taking the bronze in Rio 2016 in the 10,000m. And remember, as an 18-year-old in Paris in 2003, Tirunesh won the 5,000m!
In most cases, seeing Bekele or Cheptegai, or Rupp and Farah go past me, lap after lap, as I observe their efforts, I am taken by how much the 10,000 meters reminds me of a chess match where one punches the competitor after every move. The analogy of boxing bare knuckle and playing chess comes to mind often. The image from Raging Bull, where the fighting was so visceral, makes sense. Frank Shorter, the Olympic marathon gold and silver medalist, once described racing the 25 lapper as cutting oneself with a very, very sharp knife. That is also a good metaphor.
Sorry, it took me a few days to write this up.
This race, the Men’s 10,000m in the Paris Olympics, was historic for so many reasons, the depth, for instance, the killer pace from the beginning, and the incredible tactics. It was, as I tell my viewers on #CoffeeWithLarry most days, “splendiferous.”
The men’s 10,000m in Paris was among the finest 25 lappers in the event’s history. the 10,000m was first held in the
#1912Stockholm Olympics. The gods of the 10,000m, living and in another frequency (Nurmi, Ritola, Viren, Bedford, Shorter, Stewart, Farah, Mills, Zatopek, Mimoun), would have loved this race. So much drama in just 25 laps!
The Ethiopian team of Yomif Kejelcha, Selemon Barega, and Berihu Aregawi, three of the deadliest distance runners in our sport, used team tactics to break the race up. Credit should be given to Yomif Kejelcha, a fine runner from the mile (3:48 indoors) to the 5,000m (12:38.95) and 10,000m (26:31.01). Kejelcha orchestrated the demanding pace, pushing Barega from behind and speaking to him about the pace. For Kejelcha, the only way to break the others (others meaning Joshua Cheptegai, Grant Fisher, Mo Ahmed) was a hard pace that had to be set. And set it was!
The Ethiopians took the 5,000m fast, hitting halfway in 13:23. Staying close to them were Grant Fisher, Mo Ahmed, and Joshua Cheptegai.
The conditions were hot and humid, and the pace was traumatic for some. Yohan Shrubb, FRA, collapsed nearly halfway from the pace.
The pace slowed, and the race came down to a killing finish. Joshua Cheptegai of Uganda took the lead with 500 meters to go and never looked back. Grant Fisher moved past Mo Ahmed of Canada and the Ethiopians. With fifty meters to go, Berihu Aregawi of Ethiopia sprinted by Grant Fisher of the US for the silver, and Grant Fisher took the bronze, becoming only the fourth American (Louis Tewanima, 1912, silver, Billy Mills, 1964, gold, Galen Rupp, 2012, Grant Fisher, 2024, bronze).
Thirteen men broke the Olympic record, and Joshua Cheptegai upgraded his silver from 2020 to gold!
Joshua Cheptegai ran 26:43.14, setting a new Olympic record. Berihu Aregawi, ETH, took the silver in 26:43.44, and Grant Fisher, USA, took the bronze in 26:43.46 SB. Mo Ahmed, CAN, finished fourth, in 26:43.78, with Bernard Kibet, KEN, 26:43.98 PB. One of the leaders for most of the race, Yomif Kejelcha, ETH, was sixth in 26:44.02, and Selemon Barega was seventh in 26:44.48. Eighth was World cross country champion Jacob Kiplimo, UGA, in 26:46.39 SB.
Ninth place was Thiery Ndikumwenayo, ESP, in 26:49.49 NR. The tenth was Adrian Wildschutt of South Africa (and HOKA NAZ), who ran an NR of 26:50.64 NR!
Eleventh place was Daniel Mateiko, KEN (winner of RAK Half Marathon) in 26:50.83.
The twelfth place was Nico Young, US, who held on, one lap at a time, and ran 26:58.11. To the delight of the French crowd 75,000 in the Stade de France, Jimmy Gressier, quite popular in France, finished 13th in an NR of 26:58.67.
The 25-lapper is, as a global TV commentator has said, ” a twenty-five-lap game of chess.”
In the post-race interview, Joshua Cheptegai told the media:
On what Joshua would say to his younger self;
“It’s the dream of young people to achieve what they want in life. I really want to thank God because barely 16 years ago, when I was watching the great Kenenisa Bekele, ETH, win in Beijing (2008 Olympic Games), it grew in my heart. I said, one day, one time, I want to be an Olympic champion. The most special day because God has always given me the right time to shine.”
The media asked Joshua what the race meant to him:
“I can’t describe the feeling. I’ve wanted this for a long time. When I took silver in Tokyo (2020), I was disappointed. I wanted just to win the 10,000m.”
And his final question was, what would he tell the young people in Uganda:
“The young boys are watching in Uganda. You can achieve it by believing in yourself because when you don’t believe in yourself, you can’t make it. Believe in yourself, believe in God.”
Joshua Cheptegai is one of the finest distance runners in the world. In 2023, in Budapest, Joshua won a slow, tactical 10,000m with a last lap in the 53 range. In Paris, Joshua reran a quick previous lap At a fast pace.
But what would you expect from a man who has won over cross country, on the roads, and on the track! Joshua Cheptegai will be an icon in Uganda for the rest of his extraordinary life.
