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But his time on the track is running low for the current 5000m and 10000m world record holder, who is tipped to change to marathon running by 2025.
Joshua Cheptegei has been urged not to make any hasty decisions about the future of his career on track, but rather should follow his instincts about what should be the next step in his career.
Still only 26, Cheptegei is at the pinnacle of his powers at the moment. He is the reigning Olympic champion in the 5000m and silver medalist for the 10000m, a two-time 10,000m World champion from 2019 and 2022.
But his time on the track is running low for the current 5000m and 10000m world record holder, who is tipped to change to marathon running by 2025.
Celebrated athletics commentator Robert Walker suggests that Cheptegei should trust his instincts and only switch to running marathons only when the time is right.
“I don’t think anybody who runs for fun like us, is in the position to tell an Olympic and world champion and world record holder what to do,” Walker joked.
“It is about him following his instincts. He could potentially run the World Championships in 2025, he could hang on to 2027.”
“But logically, you could think that whatever happens in Paris 2024 (Olympics), and then Tokyo 2025 (World Championships) would be his last foray at the 5000m and 10000m on the track,” Walker said.
“He is going to step up to the marathon at some stage, but I think you just let him decide when he is capable, and he has made some pretty good decisions up to now in his career.”
“So, if he is ready, he will just switch to the roads, but not before he is ready,” Walker, whose commentary about Cheptegei’s victory in the 5000m at the Tokyo Olympics earned him a state visit to Uganda continued.
“You just let him decide when he is ready. At the moment, he has something to offer on the track and I am obliged to think so.”
Despite gaining superiority on the track, Cheptegei has shown incredible ability running on the road.
He holds the world's best in the 15 kilometres road race and is also the current Ugandan record holder in both the 5 km and 10 km.
Cheptegei is a four-time winner of the Zevenheuvelenloop 15 km road race in Nijmegen, Netherlands. On December 1, 2019, he set a new 10 km road race record in Valencia, Spain.
His time of 26:38 improved on the previous world record, set by Leonard Komon in 2010, by 6 seconds.
This mark has since been lowered to 26:24, by Rhonex Kipruto of Kenya, who also incidentally set it in Valencia just six weeks later, on 12 January 2020.
On 16 February 2020, he set a new 5 km road race world record in Monaco with a time of 12:51.
The previous ratified record was 13:22, set by Robert Keter on 9 November 2019 in Lille, France.
But his record has since been lowered to 12:49 by Ethiopian Berihu Aregawi, set on December 31, at the Cursa del Nassos in Barcelona.
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