By Joshua Kiprui Cheptegei, the newly crowned 10,000m Olympic champion, may be unable to defend his 5,000m title from the Tokyo Games, held three years ago, after requesting to withdraw from the upcoming race. Sources in Paris informed the Monitor on Monday afternoon that Cheptegei sustained a shoulder injury on Friday night after his 10,000m victory and has not trained since Saturday.
The injury reportedly occurred when a fellow athlete accidentally fell on Cheptegei during post-race celebrations. “An athlete fell on him during celebrations but it wasn’t serious. However, he felt a lot of pain on Saturday morning [until now] and might not be in the right shape for the race,” a source revealed.
Uganda is expected to request the Olympics committee to remove Cheptegei’s name from the start list tonight. The heats for the 5,000m race are scheduled for August 7, with the final set for August 10.
If Cheptegei does not participate in Wednesday’s race, it will be reminiscent of the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar, where he only competed in the 10,000m and won gold. Notably, at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, Cheptegei, having just recovered from an injury, initially planned not to compete in both the 10,000m and 5,000m events. However, after encouragement from Uganda’s First Lady and Minister of Education and Sports, Janet Museveni, he decided to compete and won gold in both events.
This will be the only Olympic event where the world record holder has not attempted the double, having done so previously in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 (finishing 6th in the 10,000m and 8th in the 5,000m) and in Tokyo, where he secured a silver medal in the 10,000m and a gold medal in the 5,000m.
