The Police Advisory Committee (PAC) has recommended Inspector of Police Joshua Cheptegei for promotion to his next rank of Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) after breaking three world records in long distance running competitions.
“The IGP who is the Chairperson of the PAC made the announcement to honor the athlete on Wednesday, 21.10.2020 during the meeting. He in addition, tasked the Director of Logistics and Engineering to allocate a Double Cabin Pick-up and a Coaster Mini-bus to the Police Athletics team to support their training in Kapchorwa in fulfillment of his earlier stage,” police said in a statement posted on their social media platforms.
The record-breaker who missed out on a medal in the men’s race in half marathon at the world championships in Gdynia on October 17, will now await President Museveni to approve his promotion.
Cheptegei finished fourth in 59min 21sec, over half a minute behind Kiplimo, a rare disappointment for an athlete who has lit up a truncated 2020 season.
“I couldn’t give more than that,” said Cheptegei, who set a world 10,000m record in Valencia just 10 days ago.
“My body was really going very well but I discovered I still had some fatigue in the legs.”
The 24-year-old had only made three outings this year but each time had broken a world record.
In February he claimed the world 5km road record in Monaco. Then, after a period of coronavirus lockdown at home in Uganda, he returned to Monaco and, in his first race back, wiped almost two seconds off Kenenisa Bekele’s 16-year-old track world record time over the 5,000m as he clocked 12min 35.36sec.
Earlier this month in Valencia, he smashed Bekele’s 10,000m track world record, taking off over six seconds as he clocked 26mins 11sec.
Those efforts may have counted against him as he attempted the half-marathon distance for the first time in competition.
