Ugandan long-distance runner Joshua Kiprui Cheptegei has decried not winning the World Athlete of the year award that was given to Swedish Paul Vaulter Armand Duplantis on Sunday.
Cheptegei who was speaking after he was flagged off to lead a team of local tourists for mountain hiking at Mountain Rwenzori is
2020 was without a doubt one of Joshua Cheptegei’s most fruitful years as the long-distance ace broke two long-existing world records. The 5000 and 10,000 metre records that he won in Monaco and Valencia respectively.
The achievements deservingly earned him a nomination for athlete of the year award which he lost to Swedish Pole Vaulter Armand Duplantis.
Duplantis broke the indoor record in February and the outdoor record in September to beat Cheptegei to the gong.
The Ugandan world champion however isn’t convinced that the Swede did better than him this year.
I am really aggrieved that I was not able to be named the athlete of the year. Even last year I was so sure that I would be named athlete of the year. I had won the World Cross Country, I had won the Diamond League and won the world championship,” he said.
“And now this year, being a very difficult year, I broke three world records,” he added.
Armand “Mondo” Duplantis (born 10 November 1999) is an American-born Swedish pole vaulter and the current world record holder with a height of 6.18 metres. He won gold as a 15-year-old in the boys’ pole vault at the 2015 World Youth Championships and holds a number of age group world bests.
