BATHURST, AUSTRALIA, February 18 —Of the leading Ugandan men, Joshua Cheptegei unquestionably came into the World XC Championships with the thicker résumé: defending champion (from pre-pandemic ’19); 10,000 world champion from Doha and Eugene; 5000 Olympic champ and 10K runner-up in Tokyo; and WRs in the 5 and 10.
Jacob Kiplimo has been shadowing Cheptegei through it all. Four years ago in Aarhus, Kiplimo took silver, and in the Tokyo and Eugene 10Ks, he trailed Cheptegei by less than a second in each.
Kiplimo, 22, finally flipped that pattern in Bathurst, with a thundering final, fifth lap of the 2K loop to win in 29:17. Well-beaten were Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi in 29:26 and Cheptegei at 29:37.
The course was imaginative, although perhaps not as wild as the Aarhus one. The hilly circuit wound through a billabong (a sloppy mud pit), by this time thoroughly chewed up by four previous races, a vineyard, and a section that zig-zagged through walls of tires.
And the runners raced not only each other but also an incoming storm. They beat it, but not before high winds cooled the temperature down from the pre-event 98 (36C).
“The course was really good,” said Kiplimo. “Even with lots of wind, it was really intense. I think for me it was really good because there are lots of hills where we train in Uganda. It was not easy but I did my best.”
Ugandans set the pace early, but not the two medalists. Similar to the first lap of the women’s race, a wall of yellow jerseys was formed by Isaac Kibet, Samuel Kibet, and Martin Kiprotich, which strung the pack out almost single file.
From there, the lead rotated frequently. Kiprotich led a gathering mass of Kenyans and Ethiopians through 4K; Cheptegei and Kiplimo inserted themselves into the conversation by 6K. Ending the penultimate lap, the pack had whittled down to a quartet of Cheptegei, 2-time champ Geoffrey Kamworor of Kenya, 5K road WR holder Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi, and Kiplimo.
Kiplimo opened a slight gap shortly thereafter, which turned into a huge one on the hills leading to the vineyard row. Grinding up the next set of hills, Kiplimo looked smooth while Aregawi and Cheptegei noticeably labored and Kamworor surrendered. Kiplimo enjoyed the final stretch with waves to the crowd.
Kamworor could take solace in leading Kenya to the team title. His 4th was followed immediately by the 5-6-7 of Kibiwott Kandie, Daniel Simiu Ebenyo, and Sabastian Kimaru Sawe, adding up to 22. Ethiopia placed 3rd with 33 points, barely holding off Uganda’s 37. As in the women’s race, the host Australians took 4th, well back at 116. The U.S. placed 6th with 134.
WORLD XC MEN’S RESULTS
Teams
1. Kenya 22; 2. Ethiopia 33; 3. Uganda 37; 4. Australia 116; 5. South Africa 118; 6. United States 134; 7. Spain 137; 8. Tanzania 182; 9. New Zealand 220; 10. Canada 227; 11. China 284; 12. Japan 345; 13. Papua-New Guinea 389.
Individuals
(10K): 1. Jacob Kiplimo (Uga) 29:17; 2. Berihu Aregawi (Eth) 29:26; 3. Joshua Cheptegei (Uga) 29:37; 4. Geoffrey Kamworor (Ken) 29:37; 5. Kibiwott Kandie (Ken) 29:57; 6. Daniel Ebenyo (Ken) 30:01; 7. Sabastian Sawe (Ken) 30:04; 8. Rodrigue Kwizera (Bdi) 30:06; 9. Hailemariyam Amare (Eth) 30:10; 10. Mogos Tuemay (Eth) 30:11;
11. Chimdessa Debele (Eth) 30:13; 12. Selemon Barega (Eth) 30:16; 13. Nicholas Kipkorir (Ken) 30:32; 14. Getaneh Molla (Eth) 30:39; 15. Rogers Kibet (Uga) 30:40; 16. Precious Lesiba Mashele (SA) 30:44; 17. Habtom Samuel (Eri) 30:53; 18. Martin Kiprotich (Uga) 30:56; 19. Emmanuel Kipruto (Ken) 30:57; 20. Célestin Ndikumana (Bdi) 30:57;
21. Samuel Chelanga (US) 31:04; 22. Aarón Las Heras (Spa) 31:08; 23. Ky Robinson (Aus) 31:11; 24. Isaac Kibet (Uga) 31:12; 25. Samsom Amare (Eri) 31:12; 26. Santiago Catrofe (Uru) 31:14; 27. Maxime Chaumeton (SA) 31:18; 28. Josephat Joshua Gisemo (Tan) 31:24; 29. Jack Rayner (Aus) 31:30; 30. Samuel Kibet (Uga) 31:34;
31. Brett Robinson (Aus) 31:36; 32. Emmanuel Bor (US) 31:37; 33. Andrew Buchanan (Aus) 31:38; 34. Nassim Hassaous (Spa) 31:40; 35. Avinash Sable (Ind) 31:43; 36. Andrew Colley (US) 31:44; 37. Mbuleli Mathanga (SA) 31:53; 38. Elroy Gelant (SA) 31:54; 39. Sergio Paniagua (Spa) 31:56; 40. Rorey Hunter (Aus) 31:57;
41. William Amponsah (Gha) 32:00; 42. Abdessamad Oukhelfen (Spa) 32:05; 43. Abraham Habte (Eri) 32:08; 44. John Gay (Can) 32:09; 45. Anthony Rotich (US) 32:11; 46. Inyasi Sulley (Tan) 32:15; 47. Cameron Avery (NZ) 32:17; 48. Matt Baxter (NZ) 32:22; 49. Blessing Waison (Zim) 32:23; 50. Collen Mulaudzi (SA) 32:26;
51. Andre Waring (Aus) 32:27; 52. Fabiano Sulle (Tan) 32:29; 53. Max Turek (Can) 32:30; 54. Marcelo Laguera (Mex) 32:35; 55. Andreu Blanes (Spa) 32:38; 56. Mathayo Samhenda (Tan) 32:41; 57. Egide Ntakarutimana (Bdi) 32:42; 58. Mikkel Dahl-Jessen (Den) 32:43; 59. Mathews Leeto (SA) 32:44; 60. Dillon Maggard (US) 32:46;
61. Tim Robertson (NZ) 32:52; 62. Philippe Parrot-Migas (Can) 33:01; 63. Artūrs Medveds (Lat) 33:05; 64. Julian Oakley (NZ) 33:13; 65. Reid Buchanan (US) 33:15; 66. Wenliang Ma (Chn) 33:16; 67. Jacob Sommer (Den) 33:19; 68. Andrew Davies (Can) 33:21; 69. Qinghua Zong (Chn) 33:24; 70. Leonid Latsepov EST 33:36;
71. Yingbing He (Chn) 33:45; 72. Salem Mohamed Attiaallah (Egy) 33:47; 73. Abdi Rhoble (Som) 33:56; 74. Keita Yoshida (Jpn) 33:57; 75. Roberto Del Valle (Mex) 34:01; 76. Zakariya Mahamed (GB) 34:05; 77. Franklin Tellez (Col) 34:07; 78. Guangyue Ren (Chn) 34:10; 79. Munir Kabbara (Leb) 34:10; 80. Gonzalo Cruz (Mex) 34:12;
81. Hazuma Hattori (Jpn) 34:26; 82. Atia Koogo (Gha) 34:27; 83. Luis Alberto Orta (Ven) 34:28; 84. Matthew Taylor (NZ) 34:49; 85. Zhongrui Guo (Chn) 35:15; 86. Anand Singh (Ind) 35:20; 87. Sohail Amir (Pak) 35:40; 88. Nassim Kabbara (Leb) 35:51; 89. Khalid Al Badwawi (UAE) 36:01; 90. Aleksandr Salakhudinov (Kgz) 36:10;
91. Tomoya Kitamura (Jpn) 36:10; 92. Siune Kagl (PNG) 36:18; 93. Wan Chun Wong (HK) 36:36; 94. Damien Troquenet (PYF) 36:37; 95. Gaylord Silly (Sey) 36:38; 96. James Kuadua Gundu (PNG) 36:44; 97. Zayd Al Sayd (Leb) 36:44; 98. Zuozheng Fan (Chn) 36:52; 99. Shu Hasegawa (Jpn) 37:25; 100. Abel Siune (PNG) 37:48;
101. Aquila Turalom (PNG) 38:09; 102. Jeevaneesh Soundararajah (SGP) 38:16; 103. Martin Faeni (Sol) 38:17; 104. Ryan Matienzo (Gum) 38:39; 105. Israel Takap (PNG) 38:51; 106. Yaohan Melvin Wong (SGP) 39:22; 107. Evueli Toia (Fij) 39:44; 108. Pramesh Prasad (Fij) 44:26; 109. Benjamin Ashkettle (Fij) 44:27 (118 started, 109 finished)
