Uganda’s Joshua Cheptegei lowered the 5km world record on Sunday with a time of 12 minutes 51 seconds.
The 10,000m world champion made the most of perfect conditions in the second edition of this race to improve on Kenyan Rhonex Kipruto’s previous best of 13min 18sec last month in Valencia.
Cheptegei took 10,000m gold at the world championships in Doha last October, with Kipruto in bronze.
Cheptegei’s latest achievement starts 2022, after an extraordinary 2019 in which he also took victory at the IAAF World Cross Championships in Denmark.
Cheptegei first rose to world-record form in 2018 when he shaved eight seconds off the 15km world record at the NN ZevenHeuvenloop race in Holland.
Cheptegei is the only Ugandan to set four world records.
John Akii-Bua is the only other Ugandan world record holder. Akii-Bua shot into the headlines when he became the first man to run the 400m hurdles under 48 seconds.
He clocked 47.82 seconds to win gold at the 1972 Munich Olympics.
Cheptegei shapes as one of the leading contenders for Olympic gold over 10,000m in Tokyo, Japan next summer following the latest victory in Monaco.
