During the Diamond League meet on Friday in Monaco, Ugandan runner Joshua Cheptegei sat a new world record when he ran a 12:35:36 in the 5,000m. In doing so, Cheptegei bested a 16-year old world record that was previously held by Ethiopian track legend Kenenisa Bekele, Bekele also holds the 10,000m world record and is the second-fastest marathon runner in the history of the sport.
Friday's meet was the first major track event since the COVID-19 pandemic began. There were thousands fans present throughout the stadium in Monaco, but they were spread out in an effort to social distance.
The 23-year old has been a fixture in track and field since his dominating performance at the 2017 cross country world championships. Cheptegei led for six miles in the event before collapsing during the final mile of the race.
In addition, Cheptegei won the 10,000m event at the 2019 Cross Country World Championships.
Cheptegei had been involved in a controversy that had to do with the Nike Vaporfly running shoes last year. The Nike Vaporfly has been proven to give runners a 4-5 percent improvement on their running time thus giving them an unfair advantage. There has been talk of banning runners from wearing the shoes in events.
Cheptegei broke a 10-year old 10km road world record in Valencia by six seconds while wearing the shoes. The top five competitors in that event wore a version of Nike's Zoom Vaporfly shoes.
