Joshua Cheptegei sets 15K world record

Joshua Cheptegei, 22, is a world record holder. The Ugandan distance athlete ran the 15K world record Sunday morning in 41:05 in Nijmegen, Netherlands at the Seven Hills Run.

This is how @joshuacheptege1 set a new world record today! #nnzevenheuvelenloop pic.twitter.com/auL34I17l2

— NN Running Team (@NNRunningTeam) November 18, 2018

This is the third men’s world record to fall on the roads in 2018. Eliud Kipchoge started the trend with his 2:01:39 marathon world record, he was followed by Abraham Kiptum’s half-marathon world record of 58:18, and now Cheptegei’s 15K world record.

RELATED: Half-marathon world record-holder rejected by Chicago

Cheptegei took 8 seconds off the previous mark. The Ugandan runner took the lead from the beginning, tiring his pacers out before the 5K mark, but managed to finish strong on his own. This was the runner’s fourth win at the Seven Hills Run. He closed his race in a solo 2:37 kilometre and averaged 2:44 for the entire run.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BqVT-1CHk_c/

RELATED: Kipchoge smashes world record at BMW Berlin Marathon

The 22-year-old doubled at the 2016 Rio Olympics in the 10,000m and 5,000m finishing 6th and 8th respectively. He then went on to place second in the 10,000m at the 2017 World Championships in London, and earn double gold medals at the Commonwealth Games in 2018 over the 10,000m and 5,000m distances.

In the women’s results, Stella Chesang, the Commonwealth Games 10,000m champion won the event in 47:19.

UPDATE: On November 11, 2019, Abraham Kiptum was served a four-year doping ban and stripped of his world record in the half-marathon.