Cheptegei delivers 10km masterclass in Durban
Uganda's Joshua Cheptegei set the second fastest time ever run in South Africa at the RUN YOUR CITY DURBAN 10K.
MULTIPLE Olympic and World Champion and the current world record holder in both the 5 000m and 10 000m, Joshua Cheptegei delivered one of the finest performances when he stormed to victory at the Absa RUN YOUR CITY DURBAN 10K.
Cheptegei crossed the finish line in a time of 27:19. Returning to the race where he set the SA All Comers record of 27:16 in 2018, the Ugandan superstar took control of the race from the start to set the second fastest time ever run in South Africa.
“The race was really good. I enjoyed running here in Durban. I decided to be a bit more aggressive after 5km because I saw that we were not very fast and I wanted to run a fast time. Maybe next time we can have more pacemakers for the men to build the first half tempo a bit more so we can run the second half in a controlled way. For me to come and win is exciting and gives me motivation to move on to my next goal,” he said.
Kenya’s Salem Kibet (27:29) finished in second place and his training partner Emmanuel Kibet (27:32) finished third. Kabelo Mulaudzi who finished in sixth (28:06) was the best of the South Africans.
In the women’s race, Doreen Cherop produced a stellar time of 30:43 to improve on her lifetime best and emerge as one of the surprise packages of the race.
Cherop said the win came as a welcome bonus because her main target was simply to finish in the top three.
“The weather was great and the last five kilometres were very fast. I’m happy to win the race especially because my target was just to be on the podium,” she said. Brenda Jepchirchir took the runner-up position finishing in 30:52, as 3000m Steeplechase World Record holder Beatrice Chepkoech took third place in 31:25 for a Kenyan sweep of the podium.
Durban local Tayla Kavanagh continued her superlative 2026 form with an encouraging 31:28 fourth place finish, just two seconds outside her personal best.
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